CM orders implementation of Rs32,000 minimum pay

KARACHI:

Caretaker Chief Minister Justice Maqbool Baqar has directed the Labour Department to activate its directorates concerned to bring an end to the discrimination meted out towards women workers in terms of their salary, regularisation, and retirement while resolving the issues of all workers in industrial units.

He issued these directives while presiding over a joint meeting of the Labour Department and a 29-member delegation of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research (PILER) led by its Executive Director Karamat Ali at CM House on Sunday.

The CM heard the issues being faced by labourers working in various industrial units and ordered the labour department to resolve them.

Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (Retd.) Maqbool Baqar directed the Secretary of Labour Department to implement Rs32,000 the minimum labour wage and directed the Deputy Commissioner of District Korangi for action against tanker mafia within two hours.

The delegation of PILER discussed labour issues with the chief minister. The delegation told him that the welfare of the workers had been affected due to the continuous transfers and postings in the labour department.

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On that the Caretaker Chief Minister directed the labour department from making unnecessary appointments and transfers.

Discrimination against female workers

The CM was told that female workers were being offered lower salaries than male workers. When the women workers reach the age of 42 to 45, they are termed as old and are terminated, or are refused jobs, particularly in Textile Sector.

Justice Maqbool Baqar took it seriously and directed the labour dept to take necessary administrative measures to bring an end to such inhuman discrimination. “A senior worker, particularly a woman proves to be an asset for industrial units if the necessary benefit is taken out of her experience,” he said.

It was informed that only a few factories were registered with SESSI. The caretaker chief minister directed Sindh Employees Social Security Institute (SESSI) to reconcile the records of registration of factories with the federal Employees Old-age Benefit Institute (EOBI). He directed the Secretary Labour to activate labour directorate to obtain data of industrial and domestic workers.

The CM directed the Labour Department to submit a report on the death of two children due to fire in the factory warehouse on August 17. He also directed to prepare a concept paper for family welfare to end child labour. “I want the children to be safe from labour,” he said.

The interim CM said that the Labour dept has resources to start such schemes in which children of poor families involved in child labour may be registered for vocational training and may be given honorarium to support their families.

The CM was informed that the land of the Pakistan Steel Mills labour colony earmarked for the workers of the steel mills was being encroached, the CM was informed. On that, the chief minister issued directives to the Revenue Department to vacate the land of PSM Labour Colony.

He also called the DC Keamari during the meeting while taking notice of the death of 18 people due to toxic fumes in Keamari in January this year. Baqar directed him to present a report of the incident.

The caretaker chief minister directed the Workers Welfare Board that the grant of workers should not be stopped under any circumstances.

On the occasion, the CM was informed that the Labour Department had completed the inspection of 1,500 factories regarding safety.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2023.