KARACHI, Aug 22: Speakers at a workers’ rally on Thursday urged the government not to privatize government organizations on the dictates of international monetary organizations.

Speaking at the rally organized by the National Labour Federation, the leaders criticized the government for sacking hundreds of thousands of workers “under the garb of downsizing, right-sizing and golden handshake.

They said the first phase of the protest movement, which started on Aug 9, had concluded during which demonstrations were held all over the country and the NLF leaders had contacted workers in different organizations to mobilize them and create awareness among them regarding the anti-workers policies of the government.

They said that on one hand thousands of low-grade workers were being sacked, and on the other posts for advisers were being created and favourites were being provided jobs at high salaries.

They warned the government not to privatise profit-making organizations like the PTCL. They also demanded that other sensitive organizations like the Railways, WAPDA, the Pakistan Steel, the Karachi Port Trust, the Karachi Shipyard and the PNSC should not be privatized.

They said the United Bank was being privatized despite having announced that it was earning profits. Similarly the Pakistan Steel had announced that it made profits, but at the same time it wanted to lower the number of workers.

They urged workers to get united so that a joint strategy against the anti-worker policies of the government could be formulated.

Earlier, the workers took out the procession from the PTCL’s office on the I. I. Chundrigar Road. After passing through various city roads, the procession came to the Karachi Press Club where the rally was held and the NLF leaders- Shahid Ayub, Mohammad Islam and others- spoke.