Minimum wage policy has neither raised income nor stopped exploitation, says SHC
Karachi
March 16, 2021
The Sindh High Court has observed that the minimum wage policy has not helped increase the income of domestic workers or protected them from exploitation by their employers.
Disposing of a petition seeking the payment of the minimum wage to all janitorial workers of the cantonment boards in Karachi, a division bench comprising Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui and Adnan-ul-Karim Memon observed that the janitorial staff (sweepers) working on daily wages or a contract basis got a little amount per month.
The court observed that the enforcement of the minimum wage law is not the only problem for the time being; the sheer injustice and massive exploitation of the legal rights of hard-working unskilled minimum wage workers is also an issue.
Sindh Govt Suggests a 20% Increase in Minimum Wage
The Sindh Minimum Wages Board has proposed a 20 percent increase in the minimum wage. At a board meeting that presided over the minimum wage segment, the participants made the decision to increase the minimum wage, keeping in view the the struggles of the country’s cash-strapped economy.
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The participants considered numerous economic struggles currently on the rise in Pakistan. Their discussion revolved around aspects such as high inflation rate, price-hike in basic commodities, rise in pay of government employees in the budget for 2020-2021, and the capacity of employers to pay wages.