PILER praises judgment on minimum wages

Hailing the Sindh High Court’s decision on the writ petition filed by the Employers Federation of Pakistan and other respondents that pleaded for nullifying the minimum wage notification of the Sindh government, the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) and other rights bodies said on Friday a strong judicial system was mandatory to safeguard the basic human rights of labourers and other ordinary citizens.

The high court has instructed the provincial government to review the wages of unskilled workers or labourers and negotiate with the stakeholders. Until the negotiations come to a conclusion, the unskilled worker should be paid a minimum wage of Rs25,000 per month, the court has ordered.

Talking to media outside the SHC premises after the judgment, PILER executive director Karamat Ali and other labour leaders, including Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation and Liaquat Sahi of the Democratic Workers Federation, said the court’s decision strongly advocated that social justice and economic stability were directly proportional to the wellbeing of the working class of Pakistan.

They pleaded with the judges to examine the miseries of the labour community on factual grounds by quoting references from international labour conventions and labour movements.