Pakistan Workers Confederation (PWC) has urged President General Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali to take immediate steps for creating new job opportunities so as to alleviate poverty from the country.
Addressing a news conference here on Wednesday, PWC President Talib Nawaz, Secretary General Khurshid Ahmed and other office-bearers observed that poverty was on the rise in the country, which needs to be tackled on war-footing basis. The ratio of people living below poverty line is 40 percent in the country, they said.
'The issue of poverty could only be resolved by promoting industrialisation and ensuring development of agriculture sector', they observed.
They urged the government to raise the wages of the workers commensurate with price-hike of essential items.
The minimum wages for workers serving in government, semi-government and public corporations like Wapda, Railways; PTCL must not be below Rs 6,000 per month. They proposed that house rent should be 50 percent of the basic pay while house acquisition facilities must be granted to those who are working at Faisalabad, Multan and Gujranwala.
They demanded reinstatement of sacked workers of Wapda, PTCL and Railways besides restoring facilities such as selection grade, move over etc as well as provision of free vocational education and training to youth.
They also demanded amendment in Industrial Relations Ordinance 2002, Presidential Ordinance 2002 (Special Powers for Removal from Service), Essential Service Act etc, so as to bring it in conformity with the ILO Convention ratified by the government of Pakistan.