ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Peoples Party (PPP) pledged on Sunday to stop the government from sacking workers in the name of privatisation and said that long duration of electricity loadshedding had sque­ezed job opportunities for workers.

“The PPP is keeping an eye on the privatisation process and will not permit the government to sack workers in the name of privatisation. We will save workers’ jobs and will not allow retrenchment,” PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said in a message issued on the eve of the International Labour Day (May 1).

“The observance of the International Labour Day is an occasion to pay homage to workers and wage earners as well as to renew our pledge to defend the dignity and ensure a decent living for workers of the country. We will not permit sacking of workers in the name of privatisation,” the PPP leader asserted.

“The PPP will strive hard to protect the rights and privileges of the working class and even would try to increase them further,” he said, adding that the party would always stand by the working class as they continued their struggle for dignity and rights.

The party will strive hard to protect the rights and privileges of working class

The former president said that both the founding chairperson of PPP and his daughter Benazir Bhutto had promised workers the right to job security, decent wages and right to dignity and a rightful place in society. They also struggled alongside the labour for attainment of these rights.

“We will ensure that promises made by our leaders to the working class are fulfilled in letter and in spirit,” Mr Zardari claimed.

He said that the struggle for improving working conditions of workers and protection from exploitation was a continuous one and the party would continue its struggle to secure a rightful place for workers in society.

Loadshedding

The Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Shah, said on Sunday that unannounced and long electricity loadshedding had increased miseries of the labour and workers.

“The government which claimed to overcome power loadshedding in three months has increased it manifold over the past four years,” he said.

He said that the loadshedding had reduced job opportunities for workers and made it difficult for them to make ends meet.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2017