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KARACHI: Representatives of various labour organisations on Saturday asked the government to shun their plan to privatise Pakistan Steel and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) as that would render thousands of people jobless.
These labour leaders had gathered at the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) office to participate in the provincial consultation of the National Labour Council (Sindh).
They condemned the government’s plan vis-à-vis privatisation of the public-sector organisations having paramount public significance.
The consultation meeting was presided over by Haibuddin Junaidi in which labour leaders from across Sindh took part.
They included executive director of Piler Karamat Ali, Nasir Mansoor of National Trade Union Federation, Asad Iqbal Butt of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Saeed Baloch of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Liaquat Sahi of Democratic Workers Union of State Bank of Pakistan, Shaikh Majeed, Roshan Kalhoro, Sultan Khan, Farhat Perveen and Mirza Maqsood Ahmed.
They said hundreds of thousands of workers had already lost their jobs as a result of privatisation of several state-owned industrial and commercial institutions since 1990s.
The discussants said privatisation had never provided positive results to the economy, which was why that policy had been internationally discarded and stopped. They referred to certain reputable economists who were unanimous in their views that privatisation had harmed economies of the world.
“We understand that privatisation is not in favour of the country as most of the privatised units are either closed down or still working in losses,” said a resolution passed at the meeting.
The labour leaders said they would launch a resistance movement against privatisation across the country with the objective to inform the general public about its hazards and press the government to refrain from the act that had a history of harming the country.
The trade union representatives underlined the need for compliance with labour standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) including the right of association and collective bargaining.
They said all labour-related facilities should be provided to workers universally.
They expressed satisfaction over the fact that the European Union had extended its Generalised System of Preference (GSP)-Plus scheme. If the scheme had been suspended by the EU, they said, there had been a fear that thousands of industries manufacturing export goods could have been closed down stripping hundreds of thousands of workers of their jobs.
A resolution demanded the Sindh government to take practical steps to implement the Sindh Labour Policy announced recently by passing all necessary amendments to the labour laws by the provincial assembly to ensure that it was effectively implemented.
The labour leaders said a majority of workers in industrial and services sectors had been employed through the third-party contract system.
The meeting participants also expressed concern over the existing political crisis in the country saying that the workers fully supported the democratic process and would resist any threat to political institutions.
They demanded that the parliament should be made true representative body of all sections of the society including workers and women should have representation in the legislative bodies.
Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2018
