LAHORE: The All-Pakistan Federation of Trade Unions (APFTU) has urged the federal and provincial governments to ensure 30 per cent increase in the wages of workers in the coming budget.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, the federation’s secretary general, Khurshid Ahmad, also demanded an increase in pension to alleviate the financial difficulties of pensioners.

He demanded the minimum wage for semi-skilled workers should be fixed at Rs50,000 and for skilled ones it should also be increased proportionally. He said the minimum pension should be raised to Rs40,000.

The union leader demanded a safe working environment besides equipment to protect workers from workplace accidents.

He opposed privatisation of the public institutions and profitable power companies.

He urged the government to create employment opportunities for the skilled workforce in the neighbouring countries, which would help increase foreign exchange inflow into the national treasury. For this purpose, he said, both short and long-term plans should be formulated, and experts given specific targets to reduce the rising unemployment.

Mr Ahmad also urged the government to avoid increasing the petroleum products’ prices in the budget, as this directly affects transportation and freight costs, leading to unnecessary hike in the prices of essential commodities.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2025