Minimum wage of unskilled labourers in Sindh raised to Rs17,500

Sindh Information and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani said on Monday that the minimum monthly wage of unskilled labourers across the province has been increased from Rs16,200 to Rs17,500 during the current year.

Responding to the queries of lawmakers during the question hour of the Sindh Assembly, Ghani said that the law regarding minimum wage is applicable to all factories, industrial zones and other workplaces across the province where unskilled labourers are employed.

He said that all the labourers in the province are entitled to overtime if they are asked to work for more than eight hours, adding that the provincial labour board and labour department will receive complaints regarding exploitation of labourers through making them work extra.

He informed the House that according to the labour laws of the province, denial of minimum wage to any labourer can result in imprisonment of up to six months and fine ranging between Rs20,000 and Rs50,000. He said the law will also be applied on payment of due salaries denied to the affected workers.

The minister said that in case of death of registered labourers on duty, the bereaved families in each case will be paid Rs500,000 as compensation from the Workers Welfare Fund. He said that Rs52 million has been spent on upgrading the hospitals and dispensaries of the labour department situated in the cities of Karachi, Sukkur, Shaheed Benazirabad and Ghotki and other districts of the province.

Replying to a question, Ghani said that complaints against any factory owner or industrial zone over non-payment of the minimum wage to labourers can be filed with the labour board or the labour department, following which notices will be sent to the defaulting factory owners and industrial estates for resolving the issues.

To another query, he said that there are 10,000 registered workplace units across the province employing hundreds of thousands of labourers, adding that it is a massive task on the part of the labour department to check if they are paying at least minimum wages to their workers.