LAHORE: Participants of a national workers’ convention held here on Sunday demanded introduction of ‘living wages’ instead of ‘minimum wages’ mechanism, keeping in view the proportionate inflation.

At the convention organised by the Labour Education Foundation, in collaboration with the Punjab Industrial Relations Institute, Township, they also demanded reserved seats for labour in the national as well as provincial assemblies like those for women and minorities for an effective representation of the working class in the decision-making processes.

Attended by over 300 home-based, brick kiln, domestic and powerloom workers from across the country, the convention discussed labour rights situation and the way forward. The moot, through a joint declaration, sought fixing Rs30,000 per month as the living wages for unskilled workers, besides an effective inspection system for factories to prevent industrial accidents, ensuring issuance of employment letters to every worker, and fixing of three-month duration for adjudication of cases in courts of labour and compensation commissioner.

Demanding early and effective legislation for protecting rights of home-based workers, forming anti-harassment committees in hosiery and garments factories and ending contract-based employment system in all sectors, including brick kilns, the participants also highlighted the need for setting up tripartite committees at provincial and district levels to speed up resolution of industrial disputes and regular meetings of district vigilance bodies.

Punjab Labour Minister Ansar Majeed Khan, who was the chief guest at the convention, claimed the government was going to make it binding for every contractor to get a no objection certificate (NOC) from the department requiring

that all the labour the contractor would employ would have social security cover. He said workers would also be allowed to directly approach the labour department for registration, even without employer’s reccomendation.

Recalling that Prime Minister Imran Khan, when he was in opposition, had been supporting fixing the minimum wages equal to 10 grams of gold, labour leader Farooq Tariq said now the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government should at least fix the minimum wages at Rs40,000 per month as the first step, ensure health and safety measures at industries, besides ending child labour and bonded labour from all sectors.

He suggested the government should ensure payment of full wages a worker deserved instead of announcing subsidies for the poor, if it wanted economic stability in the country.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) trade union leader Hassan Rana called for ensuring issuance of employment letter to each worker as the first step for protecting labour rights.

Labour Qaumi Movement’s Aslam Meraj and Ittehad Workers Union Carpet Industry’s Niaz Khan also spoke, while LEF Director Khalid Mahmood Malik and IRI Deputy Director Muhammad Shahid thanked the participants for sharing their views at the moot.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2020