May 25, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1429

HYDERABAD, May 24: The retired employees of the Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) on Saturday protested over denial of pensions and warned that they would stage countrywide demonstrations and observe hunger strike unto death if they did not get their rights.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club on Saturday, the leaders of the action committee of retired employees said that more than 6,000 employees of the company had completed more than 20 years of service and were entitled to pension under the Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS).

They said that at the time of the scheme’s announcement, it was agreed at a meeting with the representatives of union that those who had completed 19 and a half years of service would also be granted pension.

But the agreement was not honoured and more than 6,000 employees had been deprived of their pension rights, they said and complained that even the date of appointment of employees, who were recruited in 1986, 87 and 88, had been tempered with and they had documentary proofs to prove it, they said.

They said that telephone operators had been deprived of their pension rights on the pretext that they had not undergone training and termed it a lame excuse.

They warned that if the employees, who had completed more than 20 years of service, were not granted pension, they would stage a series of demonstrations and hold hunger strike unto death throughout the country.