Many of the top private sector employers including telecom and schools are paying their lower staff less than the minimum wage sanctioned by the government during budget in June this year.
The federal government increased the minimum wage of unskilled labourers from Rs 13,000 to Rs 14,000. Provincial governments of Sindh, Balochistan, KP, Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory followed suit in their budgets as well and set the minimum wage bar at Rs 12,000.
Many private guards responsible for security and safety of telecom towers get monthly remuneration of Rs 7000 to Rs 9000, Pakistan Today has learnt. It is pertinent to mention that many major telecom companies have outsourced maintenance of their service as well as security of their towers and sites to vendors, who then hire subcontractors for the job. The guards are hired and paid by numerous subcontractors and are referred to as ‘facilitators’.
Things are not different for many maids, sweepers and office boys working in private schools and colleges of Capital either. Many of them are neither offered contracts and are paid on daily basis.
Back in March, 2016 this paper carried a story on how contractual employees in various Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) were denied minimum wages. The lower staff hired in grade 1-4 for the execution of development projects funded from PSDP are getting paid as per the office memorandum issued back in August 2008, that is less than the much-touted minimum wage the government promised.
Labour force, be it market-based or government hired, need to be provided a fair wage and just and favorable remuneration. Legally binding minimum wage is now a universally acknowledged and widely used method employed to regulate the labour market. Being a member of International Labour Organisation (ILO), the federal government of Pakistan has to pay heed to improve the lives of its labour and menial workers.
