KARACHI: Abrogation of privatization policy demanded
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 4: Speakers at a conference on Saturday condemned the proposed privatization of the Pakistan Steel, and demanded an end to the privatization policy altogether.
The conference, titled ‘War Against Privatization’ was organized by the Pakistan Trade Unions Defence Campaign and held at the Karachi Press Club.
The speakers urged all workers to join hands and forge unity to launch a vigorous campaign for their rights that had been snatched by exploitative forces.
They also demanded repeal of all ‘anti-worker’ laws, particularly the Industrial Relations Ordinance (IRO) 2002, and introduction of a worker-friendly one to be made in consultation with genuine representatives of workers. They also demanded restoration of trade union activities so that workers’ rights could be safeguarded in a proper manner.
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Raza Rabbani, calling for the abrogation of privatization policy, said that its failure was evident from the fact that two major privatization deals – that pertained to the PTCL and KESC — recently had fizzled out miserably.
Had this happened in a truly democratic country, the government would have stepped down, he said. He was of the view that private sector would always exploit the situation in its favour and would run for windfall profits without realizing the needs of the nation.
Citing an example, he said that after the October 8 earthquake, while fellow countrymen were lying under the open sky to face the harsh cold weather, the businessman community resorted to increase the prices of tents and other essential items. Even cruel appeared to be those trading in clothe as they had increased the prices of shrouds to make profits from the increasing demand created by the death of tens of thousands of people, he deplored.
He pointed out that the state had also continued with its unproductive expenditure, like spending over Rs150 billion on the construction of the GHQ in Islamabad.
Earlier, chief of the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign Manzoor Ahmad, MNA, said that on the one hand, the government was saying that it had financially turned around the Steel Mill to make it a profit-making concern, and on the other, it had put this vital concern on sale.
He said the government was pursuing the privatization policy on the directives of the international financial institutions which wanted to further squeeze the resources of the poor masses in developing countries to serve the rich and ruling elite and multinationals of the developed countries.
He said that the PPP, after returning to power, would reinstate all those workers who were being retrenched by the government in the name of privatization, downsizing, rightsizing, denationalization, etc. Over one million workers have so far been deprived of their jobs, some speakers added.
They deplored that low-paid employees were being sacked on the pretext of curtailing expenditure in order to make the concerned organization profitable, but at the same time other people were employed on hefty package that sometimes ran into millions of rupees.
Expressing concern over the weakening trade union movements, the speakers said that certain undesirable elements had made their way into the ranks of trade unions’ leadership to sabotage them. Such elements, they added, had been working against the collective interests of workers.
They apprehended that a major reason for privatizing the Steel Mill might be the government’s intention to give away thousands of acres of the land, acquired from poor villagers for the construction of the mills, to the ‘land mafia’.
Some of the speakers condemned the recent attack on a Steel Mill labour leader, Sattar Butt, and urged the authorities to ensure safety and security of all labour leaders.
Government, they pointed out, would always assure workers of an organization planned to be privatized that their rights and job security would be ensured after the handing over. However, they observed, soon after the privatization of PTCL and other organizations, a large number of daily-wagers had been sacked.
They said that providing employment to every eligible citizen was the responsibility of the government, but the government was shying away from discharging its responsibility by perusing the privatization policy.
Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion were Habibuddin Junaidi, Liaquat Sahi, Ayub Qureshi, Shaikh Majeed, Lateef Mughal, Jaleel Shah, Latif Qureshi, Noor Mohammad and Syed Hameedullah.
