ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has termed federal budget-2025-26 as “oppressive and cruel” and announced to hold countrywide protest against it in collaboration with trade unions.
“This is a budget by the rich, for the rich. The working class and salaried employees have been crushed. There is nothing in it for the common man. Every segment of the elite has received financial relief, while the burden continues to fall on the underprivileged.
We will present the concerns of salaried employees and the working class regarding the federal budget to the top leadership of the People’s Party,” PPP Labour Wing chief Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed said, while addressing a news conference at party secretariat on Thursday.
PPP urges govt to increase salaries, EOBI pension
He said PPP Labour Wing urged the government for a 50 percent increase in the salaries of government employees. “We are not asking for a 500 per cent raise, just a reasonable 50 per cent to help workers survive,” Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed noted.
He also demanded an increase in the minimum wage to Rs50,000 per month. “We seek a 100 per cent increase in the EOBI pension, currently hovering around Rs10,000, better healthcare facilities for industrial workers, raising the death grant from Rs800,000 to Rs1 million, and the marriage grant from Rs400,000 to Rs500,000,” the PPP leader said. “The National Assembly Speaker and the Chairman Senate have received a massive hike in salaries, while the labourers are told that their raise must align with the inflation rate,” he remarked. “Is this not economic injustice?”
“The government’s economic policy is anti-people. We will resist it on all fronts. The responsibility of any political instability will rest with the rulers,” he said.
He claimed that the government has increased the budget for each of its institutions manifold but claims to have no money for poor labourers, industrial workers, farmers, elderly pensioners, and salaried employees.
The PPP leader said, “The salaries of ministers have been increased by 215.28 percent, and their allowances have also been increased. The budget of the Prime Minister’s Office has been increased by over 124 million rupees. The Supreme Court’s budget has been increased by nearly two billion 10 crore rupees.
Similarly, the National Assembly’s budget has also been increased by three billion 55 crore 33 lakh rupees. But when it comes to low-ranking government employees, ministers mock them. A mere 10 percent and seven percent increase in salaries and pensions is shameful.”
Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed said “we are contacting trade unions and labour organisations across the country and will hold a nationwide protest against the budget together.
He demanded that the budget proposals be reviewed, salaries and pensions be increased by at least 50 percent, and all ad hoc allowances be merged into the basic salary.
“All privatisation, outsourcing, and the process of closing down important national institutions like Utility Stores, PASC, NFC, Pak PWD etc. be immediately stopped.
All terminated employees, including the 5,000 employees of Utility Stores, should be immediately reinstated, and all contract and daily wage employees be regularised. Industrial workers and labourers should be given flats with ownership rights for housing. All types of workers and peasant labourers should be registered in EOBI and Workers Welfare Fund, as the Sindh government has already done.
Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed said the government did not consult the PPP during budget preparation, nor were the proposals of the People’s Labour Bureau included. He said that due to two wrong decisions of the government, the circular debt for electricity and gas had exceeded 6,400 billion rupees.
“What kind of injustice is it that people have to pay for electricity without even using it? Electricity consumers are crying, workers are crying, teachers and doctors are crying, farmers are crying, even the provinces are crying. Agriculture is being deliberately destroyed so that the unemployed from villages come to the cities, providing cheap labour for the capitalist class’s industries,” he claimed.
He said in Pakistan’s history, the highest salary increases were given by the PPP. He said that a historic increase of 135 percent was made during the tenure from 2008 to 2013.
Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed said “we will present the concerns and objections of the salaried and working class regarding the federal budget to the top leadership of the PPP and will try to ensure that the Finance Bill presented by the government is not passed by the parliament in its current form.”
The PPP leader said the People’s Labour Bureau also presented its 11-point Charter of Demands for the federal and provincial budgets including increase in house rent and conveyance allowances according to market rates.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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