F.P. Report
FAISALABAD: The scope of Employers’ Federation of Pakistan (EFP) is being expended and strengthened throughout Pakistan to protect the legitimate interests of the employers providing 2.5 Million jobs to the unemployed youth across this country.
Addressing a function in Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) here today, Mr. Majid Aziz President EFP said that an EFP sub office or a desk will be established in FCCI to protect the interests of its members in addition to saving them from unnecessary harassment of the concerned government departments.
He told that this organization was established 68 years ago but it remained restricted to Karachi. “However now its two offices outside Karachi have become operational while its presence in all provinces will be ensured very soon”, he said and added that the members of EFP are providing employment to millions of workers.
The numbers of employers registered with EFP were only 609 in near past but now their numbers have jumped to 700. He told that efforts have been expedited to further increase its memberships to 1000 by the year 2019.
He was appreciative of the keen interest taken in new membership of EFP and hoped that this target is expected to be achieved during the current calendar year. He said most of the employers were unaware of the benefits they could enjoy by getting the membership of this federation and hence a comprehensive awareness campaign has been lunched in all major industrial cities of the country.
He said that employers of Karachi are fully aware of the importance of EFP and they are also getting maximum benefits only due to EFP membership.
He also mentioned tripartite conference convened in Sindh and told that its provincial labor policy was developed on the basis of 62 point draft prepared by the EFP in consultation with the other stakeholders. “The labor policies for other provinces should also be fabricated in consultation with the employers of their respective provinces”, he opined.
Regarding Employees Old age Benefits Institution (EOBI), Workers Welfare Fund and Social Security, he said that generally government officials were dominant in their Boards of Directors/Management but upon our recommendation 40:40 % representatives has been given to employers and employees while its Chairman is also selected annually alternatively form the employers and employees.
He told that EFP is also affiliated with International Labor Organization (ILO) and we are regularly arranging training programs for our employees. He told that under the training program-2018-2020, we will train 2 lac workers. “Out of these 10% would be specifically trained for jobs in Middle East”, he added. He told that ILO has prepared 27 different training models for employees which would also be translated in regional languages in addition to its rendering in Urdu.
Continuing Mr. Majid Aziz told that EFP has a 2166 yards plot in Karachi and we are planning to construct our own office on it. He told that Mian Muhammad Adrees of Faisalabad has been nominated to head of this committee constituted to look after the construction related matters. “Hopefully physical work on this project will be started very soon”, he added.
Earlier Mian Muhammad Adrees in his opening remarks said that majority of the employers are unaware of the benefits of EFP and hence an awareness campaign would be launched across the country. “It will help employers to get membership in order to harvest the benefits of EFP”, he said and added that they could also be able to organize training program and seminars to improve the efficiency of their workers.
Presenting address of welcome Mr. Shabbir Hussain Chawla President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) told that employers play a major role in the economic consolidation and job creation but their role in policy making is practically nil.
Similarly, the manifesto of almost all political parties is confined to the political motives and objectives while the economic aspects are completely ignored that is why country is facing continuous economic turmoil and hence the ultimate sufferers of this lacuna are the people of Pakistan.
He said that national business plan should be made an integral part of the manifesto of all political parties so that long term economic objectives could be determined and implemented in the country.
The function was also addressed by Ingrid Christenson Country Head of ILO while Engineer Suhail Bin Rashid, Mian Muhammad Latif, Azhar Majeed Sheikh, Hajji Talib Hussain Rana and Amjad Khawaja participated in the Question-Answer session.
Later Mian Muhammad Adrees presented FCCI shield to Mr. Mjaid Aziz while he also reciprocated by presenting EFP shield to Mian Muhammad Adrees and Mr. Shabbir Hussain Chawla President FCCI. Mr. Fasih-ul-Karim Siddique Secretary General EFP also presented a traditional Sindhi Ajrak to Mr. Shabbir Hussain Chawla.
