KARACHI: While rejecting the proposed Sindh Covid-19 Emergency Relief Ordinance, the Site Association of Industry (SAI) on Saturday urged Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to take industrial community into confidence before finalising it.

SAI Patron-in-Chief Zubair Motiwala and President Suleman Chawla said the said ordinance will make it lawfully binding upon the employers in the province not to layoff or terminate the services of any of their employees during lockdown period. The employees will be considered as being on paid leave and the draft ordinance ensures payment of salaries to such employees who will remain on paid leave during the closure of their offices.

“Industrial community is not willing to expel their workforce but they have been facing severe liquidity crunch due to suspension of business activities and finding it really hard to bear salaries payable for the idle workers when no revenue is being generated,” they asserted.

The government should come forward to share the burden, they demanded.

“Industrialists have already paid salaries for the month of March and are also providing cash and food to the needy Karachiites,” they added.

They suggested to the provincial government that the funds being collected by the Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) and Sindh Employees Social Securi­­ty Institution (SESSI) can be utilised through town associations to support industrial workers.

Separately, the Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP) also urged the chief minister to hold this ordinance in abeyance and instead first discuss the ramifications with employers as this proposed ordinance is discriminatory since it will only apply to employers of this province.”

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2020