KARACHI: The trade union leaders opposed privatization of public sector utilities and termed it an anti workers and anti people move of the elitist government. “The government should stop privatizing public units. It should take stakeholders and workers into confidence before finalizing any deal,” says veteran trade unionist and secretary-general of the All-Pakistan Trade Union Organization S. P. Lodhi.
He suggested that the government should set up a committee comprising members of the National Assembly and the Senate, judges of the Supreme Court, representatives of labour unions and other stakeholders to discuss the matter. “We have parliament and the matter should go through it.” It is regrettable that the government takes all decisions unilaterally, keeping civil society members and the masses in the dark.
Water and sanitation, electric supply, railways and telecom are the main services that contribute to the overall consumer welfare through their roles in economic and social development by providing affordable services to individual consumers.
“The government in its privatization drive is also handing over even profit-making concerns. Such an ill-conceived policy tantamount to depriving the people of their basic rights and rendering thousands of them jobless”, another trade unionist said.
Mr Lodhi thinks there is a lot of pressure on the government from the IMF and the World Bank. “Of what use is a government if it is not even willing to provide basic facilities to the masses?”
Khursheed Ahmed, secretary-general of the Pakistan Workers Federation, said that the provision of basic amenities is government’s responsibility. Privatization of public utilities even in developed countries has not succeeded like success, he argued. “The disinvestment of the power sector in California, US, raises the cost of electricity many times. The governments of Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil and Argentina have to withdraw the decision of privatizing public sector utilities because private sector investors indulged in profit-making and failed to provide basic facilities to the masses”, he said.
Mr Ahmed said that the privatization of public utilities failed in Britain and India, and the Supreme Court in Indonesia ruled against it, dictating that public assets should remain with the government. “South Korea has also differed privatization policy because of its failure in other countries and constituted a national commission to thoroughly study all aspects of its implementation,” he added.
He pointed out that according to a World Bank report, Pakistan was the only country in the region where cost of power was high. “Wapda is a national asset that provides cheap and subsidized electricity to thousands of villages across the country. It is working in the interest of the general public. After Japan it has the largest national transmission system under which power can be distributed to different cities of the country.”
He said Wapda through its thermal units was providing electricity at the rate of Rs2-2.5 per unit, but in 1994-96 when the government had allowed independent power producers (IPPs) to generate power, Wapda purchased it at Rs5-6 per unit from them, making electricity over 100 per cent costlier. The induction of IPPs made power more expensive in the country.
“The private sector has priorities that can be at variance with the interest of people at large. Instead of privatizing public assets, the government should try to improve the efficiency and working of the units for welfare of the public.”
He said when a government cannot run big projects how could it be assumed that the private sector would be able to handle them. “The government is basically shifting its responsibility to the private investors but it is not conditioned for such a role.”
Mr Ahmed says the government is also violating the article 71 of the Constitution of Pakistan and ILO Convention 87 and 98 pertaining to freedom of associations and collective bargaining of the workers ratified by the government of Pakistan under international obligations to bring the law in conformity with the principle of those conventions. “These fundamental rights have been suspended in KESC and Pakistan Steel”, he said.
Zulfiqar Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research said the main objective of the privatization is to benefit the multinationals.
Mr Ali stressed the need for adopting professional management and skill development in the public sector organizations to improve their efficiency.
