January 27, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 17, 1429

HARIPUR, Jan 26: Twenty labourers working in a soapstone grinding mills were terminated when they demanded raise in their salaries here on Saturday.

The sacked labourers led by Arif Khan, Kala Khan and Gulistan visited Haripur Press Club and told journalists that they had been working at Itehad Grinding Corporation Mills Baldhair for the last 20 years as contractual workers.

They said that their job description was to load and unload the soap stone, gypsum and grind them into powder shape.

“We used to get Rs60 per day, Rs1,200 for loading 22 tonnes of stones, Rs170 for unloading and Rs3 per bag for grinding and filling of powdered soap stone and gypsum,” they said. The sacked workers alleged that they were made to work for 24 hours without any overtime and weekly or public holiday throughout the month. “We were treated inhumanly by the owners who never allowed us the facility of medical care as we were not registered workers,” alleged Gulistan.

The workers, according to Gulistan, gave charter of demands to the owners some 35 days ago asking them to increase their wages but they forced them to work under the same conditions.