Mardan
Appreciating the federal government’s announcement to increase the minimum wage to Rs. 25,000, Women Workers Alliance (WWA) has stressed upon the need for effective implementation of the minimum wage policy across the country. WWA also urged the provinces of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to follow the federation and Sindh province in increasing the minimum wages for unskilled workers.
The WWA is an alliance of women workers employed in formal sectors of district Mardan which works to bring about systematic improvements at workplaces for women workers, and rational and equitable minimum wage is an important focus area.
The WWA stressed the need to implement the minimum wage through an efficient labour inspection regime. “Workers generally suffer due to the state’s inability to enforce minimum wages, but women workers particularly suffer more as the majority of women working in the industrial sectors get wages below the official minimum wage.
The national level coalition of the Alliance conducted a survey of more than 6,000 women workers in 14 districts, which revealed that a significant 64.5 percent of profiled women workers were getting less than the established minimum wage.
While the survey may not be generalized to all women workers, it is definitely an indication that an increase in minimum wage is not enough; effective implementation with a special focus on marginalized segments is also equally important,” the WWA said.
Pakistan recorded considerably high inflation rates over the past couple of years that adversely affected the lives of minimum wage workers and their families.
The WWA emphasized that while an increase in the minimum wage is a positive step, the ultimate goal should be to establish living wage, i.e., a wage that enables workers and their families to have a dignified life.
Moreover, it is very important to consider that in the absence of comprehensive social security, medical insurance, upward career progression schemes or criteria for establishing minimum wage, workers are bound to remain vulnerable and at risk of extreme poverty.
The federal government needs to enumerate and publish statistical indicators and variables taken into consideration when determining minimum wage, such as economic conditions, cost of living and other relevant factors. Provincial governments need to make minimum wage-fixing systems genuinely robust, effective and transparent.
The WWA reiterated that effective implementation of the minimum wage legislation will bring a positive change in the lives of workers.
This can be done by strengthening the labour inspection system, holding employers accountable, digitizing wage payments and complementing these efforts by providing comprehensive social security coverage and career growth at all income and occupation levels, with a special focus on women workers.
WWA also called for federal framework guidelines for minimum labour standards to minimize geographic as well as gender-based inconsistencies in legal and administrative structures governing labour in Pakistan.
