KARACHI: A meeting of the Provincial Labour Supply Committee held recently under the chairmanship of Mr. S. Ridley, Chief Secretary to the Government, considered the question of fixing the standard or ceiling rates for unskilled labour. The Committee recommended that except for such heavy work as may be scheduled by the committee as appropriate for special piece rates, the standard rate for an adult male unskilled worker should be Rs. 1-8 per day, for 8-12 hours work in the day time, under conditions where the workman expects to be employed for one whole month of 26 working days; and that work done in excess of 8-12 hours should be paid over time pro rata per hour.

This standard rate should be inclusive of war allowance. It was considered that the available supply of local labour is inadequate to meet the urgent requirements of defence works.

To these urgent demands, the committee recommended the setting up of a labour supply depot at Karachi, which should receive imported labour from Gorakhpur or any other area from which it can be had. The committee decided that the standard rate should be made compulsory and should apply to the whole of Sind.(Dawn, Delhi)

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2014