Daily Times

Civil society and labour leaders on Wednesday appealed to the general public of the respective constituencies of former labour ministers Saeed Ghani and Nasir Hussain Shah to vote them in the 2018 General Election keeping in view their work for the welfare of workers during their tenures.

Addressing a joint press conference led by Karamat Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) along with senior trade union leaders Habibuddin Junaidi, Liaqat Sahi, Nasir Mansoor and others, scores of labour leaders eulogised the efforts made by the two former minister of Sindh cabinet.

Recounting the efforts of the two, Karamat Ali said that the Sindh Labour Policy was announced by the first-ever Sindh Tripartite Labour Conference, which was held in December last year. Moreover, the Sindh Assembly had passed a number of labour-related laws, including a new one pertaining to occupational health and safety.”

Saeed Ghani is contesting elections from PS-104 (Mahmoodabad, Karachi) and Syed Nasir Hussain Shah from PS-25 (Sukkur-Rohri-Pano Akil). The Pakistan People’s Party has awarded tickets to both the candidates.

Karamat Ali said former labour minister Saeed Ghani had initiated a number of pro-labour steps during his short tenure, “but due to Supreme Court’s orders he had to leave”. However, he added, all his steps were continued and completed by his successor Nasir Shah.

He said the previous government of the province followed the tripartite mechanism and also decided to reduce the number of government representatives on boards of labour welfare institutions. “Nasir Shah reduced the provincial government nominee members of boards of Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI), Employees Old Age Benefit Institution and Workers Welfare Board (WWF) to 20 percent, where as he increased the percentage of representatives of employers and employees to 40 percent each.”

Other labour leaders said people like Saeed Ghani and Nasir Shah should be re-elected and sent to parliament. They also appealed to the people to study manifestos of all political parties and cast votes for those parties or individuals that are pro-workers.

They also appealed to general public to fully take part in the elections and come out on July 25 to cast their ballots for the candidates of their choice.

Those who were also present on the occasion included Mir Zulfiqr Ali, Zehra Khan, Manzoor Razi, Jalil Shah, Badshah Gull, Liaqat Ali Khan Magsi.

Published in Daily Times, July 19^th 2018.