HYDERABAD: Members of the All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers’ Union (CBA) took out rallies and held demonstrations in several Sindh towns on Thursday, demanding 150 per cent rise in salaries, pensions and other privileges in the upcoming budget.

In Hyderabad, members of the union including workers of the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company, various wings of Wapda, powerhouses, water wings and the National Transmission Disp­atch Company took out a rally from labour hall to the press club.

CBA central president Abdul Latif Nizamani who led the rally along with other office-bearers of the union appealed to the federal government to grant 150pc rise in salaries and pensions in accordance with increase in inflation.

The government should treat workers under the same policy which it had applied to members of Nat­io­nal Assembly and Senate by raising their salaries and other perks and privileges. The facilities were being showered on the officers and parliamentarians who did nothing but sit in air-conditioned rooms, he said.

He said that workers should never suffer injustices silently. Today, countrywide protest was being held and workers were expressing solidarity with the Wapda CBA.

He presented a charter of demands, calling for significant raise in salaries and pensions, increase in house rent, death and dowry grant, relief allowances, job security, implementation of son quota, Eid rewards, revamping of metering units of Latifabad division instead of privatising them, end to issuance of unfair detection bills and unannounced loadshedding etc.

MIRPURKHAS: Hund­reds of workers and office-bearers of Wapda workers’ union took out a rally from Hesco division office to the press club, demanding substantial increase in workers’ salary and pension.

The union leaders Yousuf Soomro and Abdul Kareem who led the rally said that lower-ranked staff and labourers’ salaries were dismally low as compared to other staff members. They were hence facing serious financial problems.

He demanded the higher authorities significantly raise salaries of labourers in the upcoming budget to provide them relief.

SUKKUR: Hundreds of workers of Sukkur Electric Power Company held a sit-in on the premises of Sepco head office, demanding 100pc hike in salaries of labourers in the next annual budget.

The Wapda workers’ union leaders Riaz Ahmed Lashari, Wali Mohammad Leghari and others said the government had raised salaries of members of assemblies and Senate by more than 100pc but it was reluctant to raise labourers’ emoluments.

They said that inflation had shot up due to imposition of various taxes, making it difficult for low-ranked employees to feed their families in the meagre salaries they received.

In Ghotki, Wapda union workers held a protest and demanded the federal and provincial governments raise workers’ salary by 100pc in next annual budget.

Similar protests were staged in other towns of the district.

KHAIRPUR: Workers of the Wapda union staged a demonstration outside the Sepco office in protest against feared privatisation of distribution companies (Discos) of Wapda.

The protesters wore black armbands and said that they would never accept privatisation of Discos at any cost.

They demanded the authorities concerned withdraw the decision on privatisation, otherwise, they would expand their protest.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2017