Workers’ rights: Labourers protest in Gujranwala

If the government does not listen to us, we will be forced to take extreme steps,” said a protester.

GUJRANWALA:

Hundreds of labourers held a protest demonstration on Monday against the government for not providing them social security benefits.

More than 500 labourers, working in various factories of Gujranwala, gathered outside the Labour department.

They shouted slogans against the government and said that factory owners had not complied with the government’s decision to raise the minimum wage to Rs12,000.

Imtiaz Rasool, a labour leader, said the labourers were registered with the Social Security Department, but had not been provided benefits like old age pension and dowry for the marriage of their daughters.

He said that most labourers were not getting the minimum wage fixed by the government. “It has become impossible for the labourers to make both ends meet. If the government does not listen to us, we will be forced to take extreme steps,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th,2014.