LAHORE, Jan 21: The Democratic Labour Federation has demanded increase in pay and allowances of the salaried class commensurate with the increase in cost of living.

DLF leader Yousaf Baloch voiced the demand while speaking at a meeting held with Saifur Rahman in the chair here on Tuesday.

He said prices of essential commodities had increased during the past two years due to the abolition of price control committees under the devolution plan. No relief had, however, been provided to the private or public sector employees to offset the increase in cost of living.

He said growing unemployment due to downsizing and ban on recruitment in government departments was another cause for concern as more and more educated young men and women were joining the ranks of the unemployed and taking to drugs or crime in frustration. Continuous increase in prices of petrol and utility bills also provided a cause for concern to the fixed-income groups.

Rustam Sohrab Workers Union president Moeen Nawaz said the previous government had failed to solve the workers’ problems on the one hand and deprived the workers of their right to solve the same through the exercise of collective bargaining rights by promulgating the Industrial Relations Ordinance 2002 on the other. The ordinance should be repealed or brought in conformity with the ILO Conventions, he said.