Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi on Monday said that national security is the top priority of the government and there would be no compromise on it. Addressing the concluding session of a two-day "Strategy Workshop Promoting Labor Standards Compliance in Textile and Garments Sectors," Afridi said that government is planning to introduce policies to benefit workers and improve their living standard.
"Our basic objective would be to introduce such policies to benefit workers and improve their living standard," said the minister, and assured Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF) that the government would adopt exemplary measures to protect the rights of workers.
"Pakistan is our homeland and we need to introduce such reforms not only to improve our image across the globe but also to ensure development and prosperity," the minister added.
Textile sector representatives said that the sector is facing numerous challenges that do not auger well
for the sector which is an important part of global value chain.
The workers' leaders were of view that the textile and the garment sectors were the largest sectors of the economy with largest number of employees and workers but unfortunately, these are the exploited sector of the country as well.
They added that almost 40% of all industrial workers in Pakistan are linked with textile industry whereas their contribution in overall exports is 62 %.
Besides others, Central General Secretary Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF), Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqoob, Central Organizer PWC, Zahoor Awan, Aslam Wafa and Abdul Qadir, Program Coordinator and Advisor Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Pakistan, also shared their views on various aspects of working of trade unions in Pakistan and the overall situation of labor rights in the country.