Workers’ welfare

Due to systemic flaws, the ordinary people are yet to be benefited from huge gain by the business class

Prime Minister Imran Khan has regularly been emphasising the need to protect the poor and other vulnerable segments of society from the ravages of the rising world commodity prices and high cost of oil import. However, problems of the labour class continue to multiply due to the tight economic circumstances of the country. It is easier said than done. However, it is both delightful and surprising that the top 10 companies of Pakistan earned a combined profit of Rs929 billion last year. But due to systemic flaws, the ordinary people are yet to be benefited from this huge gain by the business class. It might take time for this profit to spread through all layers of the economy.

At a recent meeting with industrialists and business people, the PM reminded them that their businesses had performed so well because of the business-friendly policies of the PTI government, and exhorted them to share their gains with those as a result of whose cooperation they put up such a highly satisfactory performance. He asked them to help the government in its efforts to provide relief to the man in the street. The industrialists and business people assured the government of their full cooperation in this regard.

One important takeaway from the meeting was that the business class and the government agreed to increase the minimum wage for workers, in view of the rising inflation. However, the job is half done. There is need for the government at the Centre and in provinces to ensure that the employers do fulfil their commitment, as 60 per cent of the federal and provincial workers in the country are already not getting the legal minimum wage which ranges from Rs21,000 to Rs25,000 a month. Neither are these helpless workers entitled to any benefits under social security. This is exploitation at its height!

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2022.

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