PBC paying daily wagers less than fixed minimum amount

ISLAMABAD: Although the government has fixed Rs12,000 minimum wage for the unskilled labours in the country during the fiscal budget of 2014-15 hundreds of daily wage earners in the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) are being paid less than the minimum wage.
PBC Director General Imran Gradezi while talking to The News said he already has improved things after taking charge of PBC and also has raised the daily wages of its unskilled employees. He promised to look into the matter of those whose wages were not increased.
A source in the PBC informed The News that almost 10 to 11 percent of the total employees of PBC are working in the News and Programming session while the remaining 80 per cent staff of the department consists of other categories.
“Of these categories hundreds of employees in different Radio Stations being run under the PBC are working on daily wages and they are being paid less than the government’s fixed amount - ranging from Rs175 to Rs250 per day. However the staff working on daily wages gets maximum 26 books or 26 days wage,” informed the source.
The source further said that Radio Pakistan also has many regional channels where hundreds of employees are working on daily wages and their salaries are less than the government’s fixed minimum limit. He said Pakistan Broadcasting Association is running 63 stations, which include FM channels and medium waves channels.
When contacted DG PBC Mr. Imran Gardezi said he has already increased the minimum daily wages of the employees after taking charge of the Radio Pakistan. However many people are employed only on ‘need basis’ which means they are hired whenever their services are required. He would review the matter once again and those, whose wages have not been increased, would get raise in their wages.
It is pertinent to mention here that the government’s Labour Department is responsible to ensure protection of labours’ rights but there is no effective mechanism and platform to look after the labours’ affairs effectively.
The source further said that those who have been employed through consolidated contract are getting relatively better wages than those hired on ‘need basis’ and that the government needs to look into the matter.