LAHORE, June 27: Representatives of trade unions have urged the government to take measures on a war footing to overcome acute shortage of electricity and gas.

The focus should be on generation of electricity besides the provision of gas to industrial units and the agriculture sector in order to check alarming rate of unemployment, said Pakistan Workers Confederation (PWC) Secretary-General Khurshid Ahmad at a news conference on Wednesday.

The government should formulate an effective mechanism to check inflation after freezing the prices of essential commodities and fix minimum wages at Rs15,000 a month, said Mr Ahmad who was flanked by PWC Vice-President Yousaf Baloch, Punjab chapter president Rubina Jameel, NBP Employees Union Secretary-General Akbar Khan, National Trade Union Federation Secretary-General Niaz Khan and All Pakistan Trade Unions Federation Chairman Nasir Gulzar.

He urged the government to take special measures to restore peace in Balochistan and Karachi by initiating a dialogue with all stakeholders and tackle the economic and social problems of the people by providing them employment opportunities.

He said the wages of semi-skilled and skilled labour besides supervisory staff had not been raised for the last more than two years. He called for enforcement of labour laws through independent labour inspection mechanism.

The government should ensure speedy and cheaper justice to the workers by providing them free legal assistance from the Workers Welfare Fund and by appointing presiding officers in labour courts and the members of the National Industrial Relations Commission in order to get labour case decided within stipulated time instead of lingering on for years.

The Industrial Relations Act 2012 and the laws governing formation of trade union in enterprises having less than 50 workers should be brought in conformity with ILO Conventions ratified by the government while Section 27/B of the Banking Companies Ordinance should be repealed.