Trade unions demand scrapping of sell-off plans

By: Our Staff Reporter | February 27, 2012 . 0

KARACHI - Senior labour leaders and office-bearers of trade unions and federations of Pakistan have demanded the government to call off privatisation plan of remaini ng stateowned enterprises and corporations as previous privatisations have resulted in heavy losses to the corporations, national exchequer and increase in unemployment in the country. They also called for protection of labour rights in both private and public sector organisations and ensure right to trade unionism as enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan. These trade union leaders were speaking at a consultation on Problems of Public Sector Organisations organised by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), at PILER Centre here on Saturday. The office-bearers and leaders of trade unions of Pakistan Steel, KESC, Pakistan Railways, PIA, State Bank of Pakistan, Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC), Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and representatives of Pakistan Workers Confederation, All Pakistan Trade Unions Organisation, Mazdoor Mahaz Amal and Muttahida Labour Federation also attended the meeting. Senior labour leader Usman Baloch presided over the meeting. The labour leaders pointed out that over 460 public-sector industries, banks, utilities and service providers had been privatised since 1991 but the performance of almost all such units has aggravated instead of improving; many establishments have closed down and thousands of workers were rendered jobless. After privatisation, the new management of almost all such units have started hiring employees on contract basis or through third party employment system, which has usurped the workers rights and also weakened trade union moveme nts in the country. The performance of privatised corporations after buyout has badly been affected and common people have also suffered because of poor performance and inefficient services by these private sector organisations, especially in case of privatisation of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation, PTCL, ghee and sugar mills. The government had sold ghee and sugar mills on a pretext that people would get these commodities on lower rates. But these private sector companies in collaboration with other companies have formed cartels and prices of sugar and ghee have increased manifold since then. The performance of KESC is another example. Common citizens are suffering much more after privatisation of the utility and situation is becoming worse, they added. The government had pledged that 90 per cent of the amount from privatisation money would be spent on debt retirement and the remaining 10 percent on poverty alleviation. The countrys debts have increased manifold since then and poverty is increasing wit h passage of time, said Ghulam Farid Awan, a senior trade unionist. He said in the informal sector 95 percent labour is hired on contract basis, where workers do not have any rights including right to make trade union. Usman Balcoh underlined the need for a joint struggle by trade unions for protection of workers rights. Habibuddin Junaidi Central Chairman All Pakistan Trade Unions Organisation said after privatisation, the employment situation in the commercial banks has eroded, now no worker is appointed in commercial banks at the lower cadre and only officers are offered employment

on contact basis, which has eroded the trade unionism in the banks. No trade union exists in the banks in private sector and trade union membership in the privatised commerci al banks have also minimised. Manzoor Razi of Railway Workers Union said the corruption in Railways has brought this national institution at the verge of collapse. He said Pakistan Railways was profitable till establishment of National Logistic Cell (NLC) before 1975-76. Besides passenger transport, PR was also carrying cargo from Karachi to other parts of the country and earning profits. Shaikh Majeed of Peoples Unity of PIA said the national airline is facing crisis due to non professional members of management, who are indulged in corruption and inefficiency. He said whenever, professionals were made bosses of the airline it progressed. Latif Mughal of KESC said the power crisis in the country is deliberately created by the private sector management of the utility. He said in winters the total demand for power is 17,000 megawatt (MW), where as it increases to 19,000 MW in summers. The total installed capacity in the country is 20,000 MW, which is sufficient for the entire country. Then why there is so s evere load shedding? he asked. Mughal said the power generation companies in the private sector try to run their units on natural gas, which is in short, whereas they avoid running the power generation units on furnace oil. He said all the KESC units are not generating power on full installed capacity, where as it is getting 750MW from WAPDAs system. He said in the privatisation agreement, KESC management had pledged to invest in the company, but it has not fulfilled its promise. KESC is the symbol of fa ilure of privatisation, he remarked. Others who also spoke on the occasion included Mirza Maqsood of Pakistan Steel Mills, Liaqat Sahi of State Bank of Pakistan, Noor Mohammad, Jannat Hussain, Qamarul Hassan, Sharafat Ali, Manzoor Badayuni, Mohsin Raza. The meeting decided to organise a seminar to highlight problems of workers of public sector organisations. An eight-member organising committee was formed on the occasion which included Shaikh Majeed, Manzoor Razi, Mirza Maqsood, Usman Baloch, Farid Awan, L atif Mughal, Mohsin Raza and Sharafat Ali.