Islamabad - Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza chaired a meeting on resolution of post 18th amendment, issues of Employees Old Age Benefits Institute and Workers Welfare Fund on Tuesday. Minister for Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari also attended the meeting, in which representatives of Employer’ Federation of Pakistan and Pakistan Workers Federation from the provinces and Islamabad attended the meeting and discussed, in detail, the issues faced by the Workers Welfare Fund and EOBI after the 18th amendment.

“We are not against devolution or provincial autonomy but we need the welfare of our workers,” they asserted. They highlighted the view that social security net should not be distributed among the states; rather it should be managed through the centre and implemented by the provinces. The trans-provincial fund, assets, institutions and the programs run by EOBI and Workers Welfare Fund are difficult to be divided among the provinces. Besides, the migration of the workers would be a big challenge, if the subject considered is to be devolved, the welfare of the workers would be affected, the Federal Minister said that the workers are the main stakeholders in this and the due importance must be given to their view point as well.

She directed the participants to formulate their strategy and submit their point of view in a documented form. “We believe in cooperative federalism, we need to strengthen each other, the government is committed to devise a mechanism based on consensus, to ensure the welfare of the workers.” The representative of workers thanked the Minister for providing them with the opportunity to bring forward their view point, while the next meeting in this regard will be scheduled soon.