KARACHI: A large number of workers staged a protest demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club against non-implementation of the minimum wage.

The event was jointly organised by the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF).

A large number of workers, trade unions leaders and human rights activists attended the demonstration, which was led by NTUF leader Riaz Abbasi, Comrade Gul Rehman, Zahra Khan of HBWWF and Saeeda Khatoon of Association of the Affectees of Baldia factory fire.

They regretted that industrialists and employers were bent on exploiting their workers.

They demanded immediate implementation of minimum wages announced by the government.

Nasir Mansoor of the NTUF said that 95 per cent of employers were involved in the crime of not paying minimum wages to their workers.

He said that although 95pc of workers were not getting minimum wages as announced by the government, sadly the related government departments had remained silent spectators to it.

Violation of ILO labour standards

Karamat Ali of the National Labour Council said that Pakistan was getting incentives from the European Union under GSP-plus as it assured implementation of International Labour Organisation (ILO) labour standards, but practically the open violation of these agreements and conventions had been continuing.

“Sadly, the countries of the EU are criminally ignoring the open violations of these labour standards, while the ILO is also cooperating [with] these industrialists who are openly defying the local and international labour laws,” he said.

Habibuddin Junaidi of the Peoples Labour Bureau said that due to anti-people policies of the sitting government more than 20 million people had gone beneath the poverty line in the last two years.

Liaquat Sahi of the Democratic Workers Union of the State Bank of Pakistan said that if the present inflation rate was taken into account, at least Rs40,000 per month minimum wage should have be given to workers, besides free-of-cost social security and old-age pension.

However, he said: “Sadly our industrialists are not ready to give their workers the minimum wages or get them registered with social security and old-age benefits institutions.”

Zehra Khan of the HBWWF said as per a conservative estimate in Pakistan 41 workers out of every 1,000 face industrial mishaps. However, there is no proper data about the death of workers in workplace mishaps. She warned the government and industrialists to stop the “physical and economic murder” of workers.

Other speakers in the protest demonstration warned that if the present violation of law and the Constitution and labour rights as per international standards and agreements was not stopped, the workers would have no choice but to launch a resistance movement.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2021