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LAHORE, June 14: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has condemned what he termed use of force against Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited workers and advised the government to resolve the dispute through talks with unions. Commission Secretary-General Iqbal Haider said in a statement on Tuesday that the arrest of PTCL union leaders and dismissal of 28 among them did not constitute a reasonable way to settle the dispute.
He said this was particularly so as a large number of PTCL workers were justifiably concerned about their livelihood, given high level of unemployment, the downsizing seen in the past after the privatization of public sector entities and the failure to reach a consensus on a golden handshake package.
He said it was necessary to carry out the process of reaching an agreement in an environment of give and take instead of using force to quash attempts of PTCL employees to draw attention to their demands. The present tactics of dismissal, arrests and intimidation had already deprived the union leaders and workers of their basic right to protest.
He said the hardships being faced by PTCL subscribers could not be entirely blamed on workers. It was essential that the situation was not permitted to worsen any further, and that instead serious attempts were made to reach a consensus on the issues lying ahead through talks with employees’ unions so that a harmony could once again prevail and communication services remained free from the repeated disruptions being experienced recently.
PWC: The Pakistan Workers Confederation will observe a black day on Thursday to condemn the government attempts to crush the trade union movement of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited workers by the use of force.
A decision to this effect was taken after a discussion on armed intervention in the PTCL, arrests and dismissal of workers to facilitate its forced privatization, at a meeting held here on Tuesday with Chaudhry Talib Nawaz in the chair.
PWC leaders decided to organize meetings and rallies in all big cities to condemn the forced privatization of the PTCL, and expressed solidarity with the struggle of workers for the protection of their jobs.
They urged the government to desist from privatizing the public utility organizations like railways, Wapda, the Karachi Port Trust and the PTCL, and adopt a policy of resolving industrial disputes through a dialogue instead of bringing a bad name to the country by using force to crush the trade union movement of workers.
