HYDERABAD: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has demanded fixing of minimum wage at Rs75,000 and effective implementation of labour laws to provide relief to salaried class and daily wage earners.
The demand was made by HRCP leaders and other speakers at a programme held here on Monday. It also featured screening of a documentary on ‘The right to a living wage’.
The programme was part of a mobilisation campaign launched by the HRCP. It was attended by labour rights activists.
In their speeches, HRCP representatives termed the existing minimum wage ‘inadequate’ for a worker to make both ends meet. They stressed that it should be revised upwards to Rs75,000, arguing that a five-member family could hardly meet its monthly expenses of food, education and healthcare with a fewer amount.
HRCP’s Hyderabad coordinator Ghufrana Arain said that a notification fixing the minimum wage at Rs75,000 should be applicable to all sectors.
She said that inflation was increasing on a daily basis while salaried class was bearing the brunt of the conditions “being imposed under dictates of financial institutions”.
Leaders, activists demand effective enforcement of all labour laws
She lamented that the rulers had already increased their salaries and perks by 600pc but labourers were denied even the right to a living wage. Capitalists and elites were being granted huge incentives as well, she noted.
She said that lower cadre employees were told that their salaries could not be increased because of the conditions attached by international financial institutions.
Advocate Mir Ahmed Mangrio observed that federal government’s policies were aimed at undermining rights of provinces. He said that labourers from other provinces were hired by the private sector in Sindh while local people were denied employment opportunities. He added that price hike remained unchecked as government was least bothered about its impact on low-income group.
He said government was not interested in implementing the minimum wage notification. He said that Rs40,000 minimum wages were inadequate in the prevailing situation.
Kashif Bajeer, a development sector activist, said that children were still subjected to forced labour despite existence of laws that curb it. He said that forced labour issues were increasing but these laws were not being invoked. He said that over 60pc of labourers in the country were working under contract system. He stressed that labour rights could only be protected when their unions were strengthened.
Jamila Latif, a home-based workers’ union leader, said that women of this segment also needed a strong union, and called for the formation of such union without further delay.
She flayed that when she and her colleagues were forming a union for bangle workers, they were threatened by the contractors concerned. Still, this union was formed and was now struggling for women workers’ rights.
HRCP council member Saleem Jarwar said that all the laws that ensured labour rights must be given effect. He said that formation of a union was essential to protect these rights. Otherwise, he added, workers’ problems would remain unresolved.
Imdad Chandio, Pushpa Kumari, Boota Imtiaz and others were among the prominent activists who attended the programme.
Later, the participants held a demonstration calling for the acceptance of their demands.
Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2025
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