Factories Fined Rs 1, 50,000 For Not Complying Minimum Wage Act

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Oct, 2019 ) :The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration has imposed a fine of Rs 1, 50,000 on some factories operating in the federal capital over non compliance of minimum wage act.

The Director Industries and Labor along with his team inspected five factories and one petrol pump in Kahuta industrial Triangle area, an official source in ICT told APP on Sunday.

To implement of orders in industrial sector, he said, the department had constituted 5 inspection teams to ensure provision of fixed wages to the industrial workers besides to educate the entities about the fixed salary of labours.

The ICT administration, he said, would launch an awareness campaign for educating informal sector's skilled, semi-skilled, unskilled and juvenile workers about their fixed minimum daily wages.

To a query, he said five teams were more than enough as 95 percent industries were located in Sector I-9 only. The teams were paying visit to every factory and shop to check whether the workers were being paid according to the salary fixed by the administration, adding that prompt action was being taken if any complaint was received in that regard.

The official said the administration had addressed around 35,000 complaints of labourers, received through social media and Prime Minister Delivery Unit, during the last year.

To another query, he said the departments lacked complete data of informal workers, employed in commercial establishment of the federal capital, which prompted the need to regularize informal employment sector.

He underlined the need to bring informal employment sector into Federal board of Revenue taxation system, besides registering them with the capital's labour departments. The move would simultaneously help build their complete database and ensure their rights protection, he added.

Since the registration of informal workforce was minimal at present, the administration has decided to reach out every informal employee, whether working in a workshop, restaurant or service station, for sensitizing them about their salary status, he said.

Previously, Ehsaas Labour Welfare and Social protection Group had recommended the registration of informal workers with Employees Old-Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) in a bid to give them pension, social security and welfare packages.

Under the initiative, taken as the part of 'Mazdoor Ka Ehsaas Programme', the government was planning to carry out a survey to develop a complete and accurate database of the informal labour sector.

The 'Programme' was launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan during the first year of his government for poverty alleviation and socio-economic well-being of working class sector.

It may be mentioned that around 0.38 million workers are only registered with EOBI.

The capital administration had fixed Rs673 as the daily wage for unskilled and juvenile workers.

Besides, the daily wages for skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers had also been fixed at Rs990, Rs770 and Rs675, respectively.

The minimum wage per day (for eight working hours) for adult unskilled workers and juvenile workers employed in industrial undertakings is fixed at Rs673 while the minimum wage per month (for 26 working days) would be Rs17, 500 The employers in all industrial and commercial undertakings shall pay to their workers the wages at the rate not less than the minimum wages.

The employers shall, however, be free to pay higher wages either unilaterally on their own initiatives or by collective agreement in view of any special consideration including higher grade or skill or experience or higher cost of living in a particular locality or other reason.

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