June 07, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1428

HYDERABAD, June 6: Labour leaders on Wednesday criticised the contract and daily wage system, which they said had been declared illegal by the superior judiciary because it deprived the workers of their legal rights.

They said at a workers’ convention organised by the Sindh chapter of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Workers Federation that the contract and daily wage system was not even mentioned in the labour laws but the capitalists were recruiting workers on contract and daily wage basis in flagrant violation of labour laws and the decisions of superior judiciary.

They said that the ever rising inflation had made it almost impossible for the low-paid members of working class to make both ends meet. The industrialists were not even paying the minimum wage of Rs4,000 a month fixed by the government and hired workers for Rs2,000 to Rs2,500 a month on contract and daily wage basis, they said.

They said that the government had completely failed to implement labour laws and demanded that the minimum wage of a worker should be made equal to the price of 10 grams of gold.

The convention adopted several resolutions demanding abolition of contract and daily wage systems, regularisation of services, reinstatement of all the sugar mills workers whose services were terminated and restoration of bonus and other legal benefits.

Another resolution urged the government to direct sugar mills in NWFP to lift sugarcane for crushing and repeal anti workers IRO-2002 and section 27-B of the Banking Ordinance.

A resolution condemned blocking of transmission of some of TV channels and demanded immediate reinstatement of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and establishment of an independent election commission to hold elections in a transparent manner.

The speakers included secretary general of the federation Basheer Ahmed, APTUO President Chacha Moula Bux Khaskheli, secretary general of Muttahida Labour Federation Qamoos Gul Khattak, NLF President Rana Mehmood Ali Khan, Mohammad Zaman Khan and Mohammad Nabi Khan from NWFP and Abdul Hayee Khan of Sindh Mazdoor Federation.