Workers demand trade unions restoration

KARACHI - The labour parties of the country have shown mixed reaction over the new Labour Policy notified by the Prime Minister Yosuf Raza Gilani on Saturday. According to spokesperson of Labour Party Pakistan Farooq Tariq, the new policy have some good points about the women workers rights in which they will be dealt with International Labour Organizations conventions that will generate the more opportunities for the women workers in all the fields of life. He said that the government has failed to implement the minimum wage policy in the industries in the past years and now a new policy has come. The government which previously could not be able to implement the minimum wage of Rs 6,000 in the industries, how it will provide Rs 7,000 to the labourers. However, pension age limit of fifty years is a good step by the government he added. He lashed out that the labourers are being paid less than Rs 6,000 and no industrialist yet arrested by any authority for this crime. The trade union policy should be flexible so that every labour could cast his vote for the cause but the government has banned the political trade unions in the institutions which are not a good sign for the workers and the labourers, Farooq Tariq added. The minimum wage of Rs 7,000 will not give a boost to the purchasing power of the labourer who is already bearing the other crisis including the price hike of the basic livelihoods, he further added. He demanded of the government to strictly implement the new Labour Policy so that the labourers might get relief. While on the other hand the industrialists have criticised the policy and said that the government should make the clear wage policy on yearly basis because the other workers will also compel them to increase their salaries. The Labour Policy should be clear and on the yearly basis and the percentage of the increment should also be provided for the three to four years, Member of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Pakistan Apparel Forum Javed Dilwani told The Nation. He said that the sudden increment of Rs 1,000 in the minimum wage policy is not a good act. Similarly the leaders of the Pakistan Workers Confederation Sindh have said that government should set the minimum wage up to 12 gram of gold and remove the daily wage policy. They said that there should be freedom for the trade unions in the institutions and all the discriminatory laws regarding the labours should be sacked immediately.