By : Malik Saeed Jan
As a child, I heard tales of wheat crops succumbing to a “yellowing” disease, devastating entire harvests. Later, during my university days in a Mass Communication class, I encountered the term “yellow journalism”—a phrase describing the lowest form of reporting, where sensationalism distorts a story’s essence, obscuring its core truth from the reader. Today, as I reflect on the actions of prominent trade union leaders, I see that same “yellowing” disease plaguing their ranks, reminiscent of both the crop-destroying blight and the distorted narratives of yellow journalism. This is what I call Yellow Trade Unionism—a deliberate shift of focus from critical issues to trivial matters, leaving workers blindsided by the real threats to their livelihoods.
Across Pakistan, policies like privatization, contractual labor, and public-private partnerships are eroding workers’ rights. Downsizing, bans on permanent jobs, and pension reforms are stripping away the last vestiges of security from laborers who have sacrificed their youth for the nation and its institutions. Yet, in the face of these anti-worker policies, many trade union leaders maintain a criminal silence, complicit in keeping workers in the dark. This is Yellow Trade Unionism at its worst—a calculated betrayal dressed up as advocacy.
These so-called leaders have abandoned the real issues—job security, fair wages, and protection against exploitative policies—for superficial gains like bonuses, which serve as little more than political bribes. The working class is left unaware of the dangers looming over their future, misled by a leadership that has traded principle for personal gain. Once rooted in the struggles of the masses, these trade union leaders have shifted from dusty roads to five-star hotels, delivering hollow speeches on workers’ rights at seminars while ignoring the plight of government employees and laborers.
Recent movements against privatization, pension reforms, contractual systems, and downsizing have seen no significant involvement from high-profile trade union federation leaders. Instead, officers’ associations and local trade unionists—disillusioned by the silence of their central leadership—have been forced to lead the charge. This absence of prominent figures in the fight for workers’ rights is a glaring indictment of their priorities.
The yellowing of trade unionism has now taken on the severity of jaundice, infecting the ranks of the labor movement and threatening to plunge workers into a deeper crisis. To reverse this dangerous trend and restore the labor movement to its vibrant, principled past, urgent action is needed. Every conscientious worker must step forward, hold these complicit leaders accountable, and wrest control from their hands. The red flag of workers’ struggle must be reclaimed, and the yellow flag of betrayal thrust upon those who have forsaken their duty.
The time for awakening is now. Workers must be made aware of how their leadership has sidelined critical issues in favor of petty gains. Only through collective action and accountability can the labor movement be cleansed of this yellow taint and restored to its rightful role as a champion of the working class.
