KARACHI: The National Labour Council held a joint press conference of labour leaders at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday to raise their concerns about the recent price hikes in commodities, including petroleum products, and delay in announcing minimum wages for unskilled workers.

Mahnaz Rahman, director of Aurat Foundation, said the common man was facing hardships. “There is shortage of water and power and now petroleum prices have also been raised, which in turn will affect prices of other commodities,” she pointed out.

“There was really no reason for the increase in petroleum prices considering the international rates,” she said.

“And with all this in the background the government failed to set a minimum wage for the unskilled worker this year. It should be fixed in accordance with inflation and rising expenses,” she said.

“It should be around Rs35,000 a month at least,” she said.

Labour leader Habibuddin Junaidi demanded that petroleum prices be brought back to what they were before May 31, 2018 when the caretaker government took charge.

“The caretaker government’s job is to look into holding fresh elections smoothly and not get involved in matters such as raising prices,” he said.

Liaquat Sahi said it was the state’s job to protect the rights of the poor.

Sindh Human Rights Commission of Pakistan vice-chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt reminded that the right of survival was the first article in the human rights charter.

“It doesn’t mean just breathing. There are other needs too to survive such as a person’s right to education, right to healthcare facilities, etc,” he said.

Karamat Ali of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research also said that price control was the main responsibility of the government.

“A World Bank report says that a poor family’s 80 per cent income is spent on food and when prices are increased they start eating less and avoid getting healthcare.

“The World Bank has estimated that common people’s 25 to 30pc income goes to healthcare,” he said.

He expressed concern over the delay in the announcement of minimum wages for unskilled workers.

Mr Ali said that every year at the time of announcement of the budget, minimum wages were announced by the provincial governments but this year, minimum wages were not announced by any provincial government.

He said the trade unions were demanding an increase in minimum wages as the current rates were too low when compared with the current rate of price hike.

He appealed to all the major political parties to raise the issues of the poor and working people.

“The Sindh labour department’s minimum wage board has already done an exercise through tripartite mechanism and sought recommendations from employers and employees on minimum wages, but those wages are not announced yet,” he said.

The labour leaders also demanded to devise a mechanism for implementation of the minimum wages in all provinces.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2018