ISLAMABAD: Workers of Wapda throughout the country went on a three-day pen-down strike on Tuesday in protest against the government move to privatise power distribution companies allegedly under pressure from international financial institutions.

The decision for the pen-down strike has come from the country’s biggest union ‘All Pakistan Wapda Hydro-electric Workers Union’, a statement issued by unionists said.

Union leaders claimed that the protest strike was fully unanimous and all kinds of official work would remain suspended for three days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday).

Wapda offices were locked and workers boycotted routine work. Only highly emergency staff members were on duty, the unionists said.

Take a look: Wapda workers stage sit-in against privatisation plan

They staged protest rallies, led by their leaders, outside their offices.

Addressing the protesters, union leaders, including central secretary general Khursheed Ahmad, president Abdul Latif Nizamani, Abdul Hayai and Gauhar Taj, condemned the government for pursuing what they called anti-people policies by privatising profit-generating entities. They said anti-workers policies of the government had spread unease and severe disturbance among the working community and vowed that they would not allow the government to privatise profit-generating government organisations.

The workers warned that their strike could worsen in case the government did not halt the privatisation process. The next stage of the protest would be more severe and 150,000 workers would be on roads. It could also lead to a country-wide shut-down, they added.

Published in Dawn March 4th , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play