Labour leader wants minimum wage doubled

HARIPUR: National Labour Federation President Shamsur Rehman Swati on Saturday asked the government to fix the salary of each worker at double the minimum wage as managing kitchen in the present pay package was not possible.

Talking to the media, he said the working class had never been the priority of the successive governments and was cheated in the name of amelioration of their living standards.

“Had they ever been a priority of the successive governments, the living condition of the working-class would have been different and the ever-rising poverty rate reduced at least during the last seven decades”, he said.

Swati said the meager salaries against the unchecked price hike have made the life of 70 million workers, both belonging to formal and informal sectors of the country miserable.

“It’s hardly possible for a single person to run the kitchen with a minimum wage of Rs 17,500. How can a family of five or more persons manage with such a small income”, he questioned.

The labour community leader believed that the officials of government departments were responsible for the miserable living condition of the working class.

He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had promised 10 million jobs but rendered millions jobless while hundreds of thousands were going to face axe in the next few months.

Swati said economic development and reduction of poverty were interlinked and the goal could be achieved only once the working class was provided with a conducive environment.

He said wages must commensurate with the working hours and in line with labour laws. This rule, he added, was never respected by the industrialists and the employers of public and semi-public departments.

Swati accused the PTI’s government of ignoring the problems of the working class which was sufficient to establish that the sitting rulers had failed in exhibiting good governance skills and were merely following the predecessors.

He feared that the growing unrest among the working class could lead to an anti-government movement at any time if the rulers failed to provide relief to the salaried class.