Millions of industrial workers living in vulnerable condition across the country are still waiting for a formal decision on enhancement of their minimum wages from its current level of Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 despite last year's official announcement. On December 27, 2004, President General Pervez Musharraf announced at a seminar that the government had, in principle, decided to enhance minimum wage by Rs 500. The matter, however, was referred to the Labour Ministry and Workers Employees Bilateral Consideration of Pakistan (WEBCoP) for further consideration before the announcement of a formal decision.
But since then, there has been no significant development on the matter mainly due to lack of political will and bureaucratic puzzle lock, mounting the sense of deprivation in the downtrodden labour class.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz also came into action in April and directed the Labour Ministry to expedite the matter, but even his directive remained ineffective.
A source in the ministry told Business Recorder that representatives of employers in the WEBCoP were creating hurdles in the way of early implementation of the decision.
WEBCoP is an organisation representing both industrialists and workers, but thought to be a predominantly employers' dominant body.
The matter would have to go through the Minimum Wage Council (MWC) of the ministry before the final decision, which could take further two to three months, the source added.
The minimum wage of the industrial workers was enhanced from Rs 2,100 to Rs,2,500 in 2001. Under a provision of the Labour Policy 2002, the government is bound to review it after every two years, but the decision was late by a year.
The Labour Ministry, which was reluctant to take any decision on the matter, was forced to consider it after labour unions from across the country decided to approach Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on the issue.
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