RAWALPINDI, April 8: Pakistan People's Party (PPP) backed by Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign (PTUDC) would soon table a bill in the National Assembly for the repeal of the Industrial Relations Ordinance, 2002 , and Removal from Services Ordinance, 2002.

This was decided at a meeting organised by the PTUDC and Berozgar Naujawan Tehrik (BNT) at Rawalpindi Press Club here on Thursday. Representatives of various labour unions including Pakistan Union of Journalists, Pakistan Telecommunication, Rawalpindi Development Authority, Oil and Gas Development Corporation, Islamabad Secretariat and Pakistan Agricultural Research Council were present on the occasion. PPP MNAs Nayyar Bukhari and Chaudhry Manzoor also attended the meeting.

The participants of the meeting unanimously passed a resolution in which they observed that a large number of representatives of trade unions would gather in front of the parliament during the tabling of the bill against the anti-labour laws.

They also warned of launching a door-to-door campaign against those MNAs who didn't support the bill. Nayyar Bukhari, MNA, promised to the workers that all the 58 PPP MNAs in the parliament would back the bill. The participants also asked the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) to live up to their promise of supporting the bill.

The workers also asked the government to pay the minimum salary of Rs6,000 to the labourers. They also demanded of the government to refrain from privatizing the profit-earning government organizations. They also called for an end to the contract system and legislation of labourer-friendly laws in the country in a bid to eliminate poverty from the gross-roots level.

The participants of the meeting also demanded of the government to increase the wages/salaries of the labourers in commensurate with the ratio of inflation. They said majority of the labourers lacked access to the basic needs and rights. They said the children of the poor could not even get basic education and had no other way but to work as child labourers in order to support their cash-strapped families.

The participants also said that the sailing of the National Security Council (NSC) bill through the parliament was another success of the military establishment to institutionalize its political role in the society.