07 October 2004	Thursday	21 Shaban 1425

RAWALPINDI, Oct 6: Hundreds of workers and representatives of labour organizations on Wednesday staged a demonstration here on Murree Road against the continuous price-hike, growing unemployment and anti-labour laws.

The protest was held under the aegis of Pakistan Workers Confederation (PWC) which groups together a number of labour organizations. The protest was part of a movement which the confederation had planned to launch to press the government of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to accept their demands.

The protesters said fundamental rights of workers guaranteed to them in the Constitution were being violated.

They marched on the main road waving banners and placards and chanting slogans against a plethora of problems being faced by the labour class. They also demanded end to privatization policies.

Earlier, the workers held a conference at Rawalpindi Press Club where the PWC leaders spoke against, what they termed, the government's apathy to labourers' problems. They passed several resolution on this occasion.

The confederation leaders, including zonal chairman Malik Fateh Khan, district president Zafarullah Niazi, secretary Ramzan and others, expressed regret over non-implementation of ILO convention.

The trade unionists asked President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to convene a national tripartite conference to redress the grave socio-economic problems of the working class and introduce radical reforms in these sectors in order to establish an egalitarian society.

In their view, the rich were getting richer while the poor, poorer demanding end to the widening gap. The legislators had raised their salaries and other perks and privileges, they said.

An army of ministers, state ministers, advisers and parliamentary secretaries has been imposed on this poor nation while on the other hand, workers have not been given any raise in their salaries since 2001, they noted.