KARACHI: KESC be placed under technocrat - workers: Anti-privatization rally
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 29: Speakers at a workers' rally on Friday, opposing the proposed privatization of the KESC demanded that the public utility be placed under some qualified technocrat and that the union activities be restored in the corporation.
At the rally, organized by the KESC Employees Action Committee, at the Press Club, the speakers rejected the government's 'excuse' for privatizing the utility that the KESC was going in deficit.
They argued that a major reason for the KESC's losses was that it was headed by non-technical people. They suggested that some highly-qualified technocrat having considerable experience of running such organizations be hired as the head of the utility.
Resenting that the non-technical managers of the public utility were being paid huge allowances, burdening the KESC, they demanded that all such officers be sent back to their parent organizations, so that they could do the jobs for which they were primarily employed and trained.
They alleged that the government, on the directives of the international financial institutions, was going to hand over the public utility to some multinational company.
They argued that the KESC provided power to many defence-related sensitive organizations, and the control of an alien company over their power supply could pose a serious threat to national security.
They claimed that the future private owners of the KESC were also being assured of 15 per cent annual profit on their investment. They apprehended that the private party would enhance the power tariff, which, besides burdening the domestic consumers, would also translate into higher production costs for the local industry, adversely affecting the export-oriented industries, as their products would not be able to compete in the international market, and the country would lose the much-needed foreign exchange.
They said that the union activities had been banned in the KESC, along with some other organizations, over six years back, adding that while the union activities had been restored in other organizations, the KESC workers were still being denied their right to form union.
They pointed out that the banning of trade unions was not only a violation of the workers' basic rights, but even many International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions signed by the government also guaranteed union activities, and the country was morally bound to implement its international commitments.
They demanded that the trade union activities be restored immediately, so that the rights of the KESC workers could be safeguarded. They demanded that keeping in view the ever-increasing inflation, all the workers be given a raise of at least 20 per cent in their salaries. They said that if the union activities had not been banned, the workers' representatives would have got their salaries enhanced and secured more benefits.
They said that in case of lifting of the ban during these six years, the revision of the workers' pay scales would also have been carried out at least twice. They said that rather than giving any raise or offering new benefits during the period, the present KESC management had even withdrawn many existing benefits, while for some benefits a cumbersome procedure had been introduced, which had made it difficult for the workers to avail the same.
They demanded restoration of all the withdrawn benefits, and urged the KESC authorities to do away with the cumbersome procedures. They also demanded that all the contract-based appointments in the KESC be regularized, and that the menace of the contract system be abolished.
The labour leaders, M Akhlaque Khan, Lateef Mughal, Aslam Samoon, Haji Shehzad, Usman Baloch, Aiyaz Mengal and others also spoke at the rally. Earlier, the workers gathered at the Power House on Elender Road and staged a demonstration there.
Later, a procession was taken out which after passing through various city roads terminated at the Press Club, where it turned into a rally. The protesters were chanting slogans in support of their demands. They were also carrying banners with their demands written on them.
