Karachi: The Sindh government has proposed Rs44,000 as the minimum monthly wage for labourers given the current the inflation in the country.
In a statement on the floor of the Sindh Assembly, provincial Labour and Human Resources Minister Saeed Ghani said the current wage of Rs25,000 was highly insufficient for labourers and their families.
He recalled that around two years ago Sindh was the first province which increased the minimum monthly wage from Rs17,500 to Rs25,000.
The employers and factory owners in 2021 opposed the decision while maintaining that such a sudden rise in wages would sharply increase the cost of doing business.
They later moved the court against the decision.
While employers would again reject the proposal, Ghani said that they can mediate with the business owners to find a middle ground for resolving any dispute.
He said that a way forward should be found in this regard to letting the low-salaried workers fulfill the basic needs of their families in an honourable manner.
The minister recalled that the Sindh government in the past years had increased the minimum wage to Rs16,000 when the US Dollar exchange rate was Rs100 as the same formula had been applied to later increase the monthly wage to Rs25,000 with the increase in the value of the dollar.
He told the lawmakers that financial assistance paid by the Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution to the family of a deceased labourer had been increased to Rs700,000 from Rs500,000.
Similarly, assistance given to a worker for the marriage of his daughter has been increased to Rs200,000 from Rs100,000.
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