Government employees demand 25% salary raise

Pakistan Workers Federation warns of protestif increase is delayed

PESHAWAR:

The Pakistan Workers Federation has demanded of the provincial government that it increase the salaries of its employees by 25 per cent on the pattern of the federal government.

“The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government increased the salaries by 10 per cent but, after an employee protest, promised that the federal government’s decision would be followed in this regard,” says a statement issued by the federation.

It also demanded that the government issue a notification for the minimum wages for daily wage earners.

The Central Chairman of the PWF, Razim Khan, said that the government had increased salaries by 10 per cent only in its annual budget but had later promised a further increase after the federal budget and should now fulfil its promise. He warned that a protest call would be given if the K-P government did not fulfil its pledges regarding the salary raise.

Last month, employees of various government departments had staged a protest rally outside the K-P Assembly for their demands.

A large number of women and men, including employees of the Departments of Education and Health, paramedical staff, the Peshawar Development Authority, the Water and Sanitation Service Peshawar, the Capital Metropolitan and other departments had also participated in the protest.

The participants of the protest carried placards and banners with demands written on them and chanted slogans against the provincial government.

The flow of traffic was also badly affected as the protesters blocked the main Khyber Road and long queues of vehicles could be seen on both sides of the road for miles.

Speaking on the occasion, the presidents of various organizations said that they demanded that the salaries of government employees in the provincial budget be increased by 100 per cent in proportion to the skyrocketing inflation. They rejected the 15 per cent increase in the salaries of government employees announced by the provincial government, terming it insufficient.

They demanded of the provincial government that it increase the fund allocated for government employees in the budget and integrate ad hoc relief in the basic salaries to increase them by 100 per cent and also double medical allowance to provide some badly-needed breathing space to government employees.

They said that a 10-year-old allowance is still provided to the employees while the cost of medicines has increased by 400 per cent in recent years without inviting any attention from the quarters concerned.

Similarly, they said a conveyance allowance had not been increased in the past decade despite the fact that fuel prices had risen to Rs300 from Rs100 during this time.

Speakers also demanded that the decision on a deduction made under pension reforms be withdrawn and the salary be fixed at least at Rs50,000 instead of Rs32,000.

They also demanded that utility allowances be given to municipal WSSP employees like other departments.