RAWALPINDI, June 13: About 140 daily wage employees of the Telecom Foundation International Gateway Exchange Islamabad have been excluded from the package announced by the government for PTCL workers. The workers of the foundation, a subordinate organization of the PTCL, told Dawn that they had been discriminated against. They said they were working in “the most important sector of the telecommunication company.”

These employees have been working on daily wage basis for 12 years, but were not regularized, said Rana Mohammad Ashraf, a union leader.

They are paid Rs200 per day and there is no other benefit. These wages had been fixed in 1998 and there has been no raise in their salaries since then, the workers added.

The federal minister for telecommunication along with several other ministers recently announced a package for the PTCL employees who are protesting against the privatization of the company. The package includes regularization of services of daily wagers, raise in salaries, provision of medical and other allowances.

The gateway daily wagers have demanded that they should be considered for the package announced by the government.