HYDERABAD, June 20: The president of the Sindh chapter of the National Labour Federation, Rana Mehmood Ali, has urged all labour federations to give a call for a countrywide wheel-jam strike for July 29 to highlight demands of workers.

He was speaking at the Sindh executive committee meeting of the federation here on Sunday. He said that the Industrial Relations Ordinance 2002 and the Removal From Service (special powers) Ordinance 2000 had deprived the working class of their rights.

Mr Rana said that massive retrenchment of workers had become the order of the day and the contract system had forced labourers to work on nominal wages. He said that labour courts had failed to provide justice to workers and hyper-inflation had made their lives miserable.

He said that the government had failed to provide any relief to workers in the budget for the last many years. Mr Rana alleged that the labour department was protecting the rights of the capitalist class and victimising trade unions and workers.

He said that the working class of the country had been greatly disappointed. He said that the trade union movement could not survive without sacrifices and added that without launching a consistent struggle the government would not resolve problems of the working class.

Under the circumstances, he said, the NLF had suggested that all federations of the country should announce a wheel-jam strike on July 29 for the resolution of workers' problems.

He said that political parties could also be approached for support in this regard. He said that the All-Trade Union Action Committee had also been asked to convene a meeting of the workers federations to give a final shape to this demand.