The
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) welcomes a statement by Pakistan’s
President, Asif Ali Zardari, supporting journalists’ demands that the Seventh
Wage Award be implemented immediately.
According to
the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ),
an IFJ affiliate, the President put
on record this intent in a communication to the union.
“The IFJ appreciates
this long overdue admission that Pakistan’s Government has a special
responsibility to ensure compliance with the statutory provisions of the law
dealing with working conditions in the newspaper industry - the Newspaper
Employees (Conditions of Service) Act 1973,”
IFJ General Secretary Aidan White
said.
“For far too
long has the Act languished in official neglect,
while newspaper managements have actively blocked its most salutary provisions.”
The IFJ has
consistently stood by the PFUJ in its long struggle to secure full
implementation of the Seventh Wage Award,
which is nine years overdue. The last industry-wide wage revision occurred in
1996. Since then, the cost of living
has escalated immensely, generating
serious stresses for Pakistan’s
journalists.
“Under the
statute, the tenure of a wage award
is no more than six years. The circumstances clearly indicate that an Eighth
Wage Board should now be constituted under the law,
to determine appropriate levels of compensation for media workers,” White said.
Both houses
of Pakistan’s
Federal Parliament and the four provincial assemblies have already endorsed the
demand for the implementation of the wage award.
“With Pakistan’s
President also now explicitly endorsing the demand,
the IFJ calls on the newspaper industry to shed its resistance and honour the
principle that good journalism flourishes when its practitioners do not suffer
unreasonable economic adversity.”
For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific
on +612 9333 0919
The IFJ represents
over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries