ISLAMABAD: Sanity finally prevailed on Friday when the board of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) agreed to implement the decisions taken in October 2018, leading the workers union to call off its countrywide strike.

Earlier in the day, the alleged indifferent attitude of the government and the management of the state-owned retail chain had resulted in the announcement of the strike by the union.

In a sign the matter is not fully resolved, chairman of the CBA union Arif Hussain Shah warned that the USC employees would resume the strike after 10 days if one of their key demands — regularisation of services of contractual employees and daily wagers — was not met.

After the strike was announced, the USC management had hurriedly made the decision that the ad hoc relief allowance notified by the government in 2017 and 2018 would be paid in monthly installments during the next financial year.

Union leader warns strike can be resumed if services are not regularised in 10 days

Despite continuous persuasion by the union, the USC management and the Ministry of Industries had not responded to the call to implement the 2018 agreement signed between the union and the ministry then headed by Adviser to the Prime Minister Abdul Razak Dawood.

As a result, around 4,000 USC outlets across the country were closed on Friday, just a day before the beginning of Ramzaan, leading to serious worries among consumers.

The decision made an impact on the USC management as retired Brig Hamid Usman, managing director of USC human resource department, issued a circular on Friday noon, announcing that the minimum wage for daily wage employees has been raised from Rs15,000 to Rs17,500 per month, with effect from July 2019.

It has been decided that the annual increment due since December 2019 has been approved for all employees and will be paid in equal installments effective from the current month. The employees will get one month additional salary as an honorarium for Ramazan and 10 per cent increase in salaries as announced in federal budget 2019- 20 will be paid in equal installments from the current month.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Ministry of Industries and Production said that the implementation of the government’s ad hoc relief had been delayed due to poor financial condition of Utility Stores.

The government had recently approved Rs50 billion package for the USC to be used to clear previous backlog in payment of bills since January 2020 as well as for fresh orders.

Meanwhile, Arif Shah slammed Razak Dawood and the USC management for what he called not being fair.

“They have been giving incorrect briefing to the prime minister and Mr Razak Dawood had always stated that operating USC was not financially viable only to keep our salaries low,” he said.

He said that a letter had been sent to Hammad Azhar, who now heads the Ministry of Industries and Production, to look into the matter seriously and make a decision.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2020