On May 15, the provincial president of the Muttahida Labour Federation (MLF) in Peshawar, Muhammad Iqbal stated that the current price hikes had made life difficult for poor workers but the government had remained silent.
He remarked that the provincial and federal governments should enhance monthly wages and the Employees’ Old-Age Benefit Institution pension in relation to the country’s current price hikes and inflation, speaking during a protest gathering staged in honour of May Day here at Shobra Chowk.
The leader was of the view that workers had played a critical part in the country’s progress, but that each subsequent government had crushed them under one excuse or another. He claimed that the government and investors had teamed up to close down industrial units in the province as part of a well-planned plot.
Read more: Pakistan’s textile exports surge by 30 per cent
Iqbal said that the authorities should take measures to protect the rights of lower-paid strata and labourers in order to ease their lives.