Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday that fulfilling labour rights and making the people “shareholders in the system” remained a fundamental challenge for the global economy.

He made the remarks to commemorate International Labour Day which is being observed across the world in tribute to workers in Chicago who were killed by police while protesting for an eight-hour workday in 1886.

Taking to Twitter, PM Shehbaz said: “While we pay rich tributes to the working classes and celebrate their contributions today, the fact is that the disruption in global markets has led to a severe cost of living crisis.

“Together with increase in commodity prices, the working people find themselves under tremendous stress,” he said.

“The edifice of material development that stands on the foundation of hard work will come crumbling if those who made it possible are excluded from its benefits. Fulfilling the labour rights and making people shareholders in the system remains a fundamental challenge for the global economy,” he stated.

In a separate message, the prime minister expressed his committment to improving workers’ living and working conditions, and to supplement their welfare by providing them with better housing, education and health facilities, Radio Pakistan reported.

“Keeping in view the high inflation rates and other economic challenges, the government has increased the minimum monthly wages of workers from Rs17,500 to Rs25,000,” he said.

PM Shehbaz highlighted that the government had also commenced programmes for vocational training and skills development to ensure workers were able to get their due share when entering the job markets within and outside the country.

Separately, President Dr Arif Alvi said that this year’s International Labour Day was being celebrated to reaffirm the “dignity of labour” while also paying tribute to workers’ “valiant and heroic struggle” for their fundamental rights.

“The labour force is the backbone of our economy,” he said, adding that it was imperative to take steps for protecting workers’ rights by strictly enforcing labour laws to discourage unfair practices.

He hoped that the “federal and provincial governments would continue their endeavours” to work for the labour force’s welfare as well as provide them with marketable skill sets.

In his message, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said the PPP would ensure that workers were represented in all elected bodies.

“If people give the next mandate to the PPP in the upcoming general elections, the party will initiate schemes like the Benzair Mazdoor Card for workers across the country,” he said.

The PPP chairman highlighted that the country’s labour policy and the rights of trade unions were introduced by former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1972.

Bilawal urged the country’s workers to join the PPP and make it more powerful so that the party could protect the rights of labourers.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan said in a statement that the dream of “development and prosperity” cannot be materialised without protecting the “hardworking class’ honour, dignity and rights”.

He paid tribute to workers for their “important role in the national building and development” and assured them that the caretaker government will take “every possible step” for their well-being.

Separately, Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Sajid Hussain Turi said on Monday that Pakistan is finalising agreements with 16-18 countries for the export of manpower, Radio Pakistan reported.

Addressing an event in connection with the occasion at Islamabad’s National Press Club, Turi said the government was doing future planning to ensure the legal export of manpower, adding it has taken “various steps for the welfare of workers”.

Radio Pakistan further quoted him as saying, “We are planning to establish a university in the federal capital where free-of-cost education will be provided to the children of workers.”

Additional input from APP