LAHORE, Sept 24: The safety and health of workers can only be ensured by restoring the independent labour inspection machinery empowered to enforce all relevant laws in accordance with the principles of ILO Convention No 81 ratified by the Pakistan government.

Federal and provincial governments should fulfil their constitutional and international obligations, said members of a Pakistan Workers Confederation during a meeting with Federal Secretary for Human Resources Ahsan Raja in here on Monday.

Led by PWC Secretary-General Khurshid Ahmed, the delegation comprised Confederation chairman Altaf Baloch, Punjab chapter president Rubeena Jameel, secretary-general Khushi Muhammad Khokhar, deputy general secretary Osama Tariq, Muttahida Labour Federation senior vice-president Muhammad Akbar, NBP Workers Union’s Akbar Ali Khan and Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Central Labour Union (CBA) deputy chairman Malik Noor Muhammad.

The delegation members were of the view that tragedies like killing of around 325 workers at factories in Karachi and Lahore could have been averted had the safety, health and other labour laws, including Minimum Wages and Social Security and old Age Benefits, in force.

Governments of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa besides the Federal Capital Authority should be asked to raise minimum wages in their jurisdictions since it had not been revised despite galloping inflation. The delegation further demanded that funds collected by the government under the Schemes of Workers Welfare Fund and Worker Companies Profits Participation Act 1968 be got reimbursed from the finance ministry and be utilized for the provision of education to the children of workers as well as provision of housing to them.

Labour leaders also informed the secretary that the National Tripartite Labour Conference had been previously held in February 2008. Federal Secretary Ahsan Raja offered condolences to families of victims of Karachi and Lahore infernos.

He assured the delegation that the government was taking strict measures to ensure enforcement of safety, health and other labour laws in consultation with provincial governments.