FAISALABAD, Dec 20: The All-Pakistan Federation of Trade Unions and representatives of over two dozen labour unions have jointly demanded that the government should introduce a comprehensive plan to ensure safety and health of labourers.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the federation here, union leaders Haji Abdul Jabbar, Osama Tariq, Mohammad Bashir Shakir, Hasan Munir Bhatti, Abdul Hafeez, Ahmad Alvi, Malik Rab Nawaz, Mohammad Shabbir and others said the number of people suffering from serious diseases was increasing in the industrial units due to a lack of safety measures.

They said over 80 per cent of women and under-age labourers working in ancillary units especially hosiery factories were suffering from chest and ENT diseases because of the lack of safety measures.

They pointed out that the labourers had also been facing serious financial problems due to low wages that forced both teenaged and aged members of their family to serve in factories to make both ends meet.

They also blamed the labour welfare department for its failure to implement labour laws in industrial units at the cost of health and lives of poor workers.

They proposed that owners of industrial units must spend two per cent of their profit on safety and health of workers. Committees comprising labourers, representatives of owners and officials of the labour welfare department should be formed in mills for adopting safety measures.

They also demanded that special training programmes should be arranged for industrial workers.

They urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafar Ullah Jamali to announce a reasonable increase in the monthly salaries of industrial workers.