TOBA TEK SINGH: After a day’s break in their agitation, thousands of workers of more than 700 powerlooms in Faisalabad’s Sadhar Industrial Estate on Wednesday observed a complete strike, took out a rally and resumed their sit-in after their employers refused to honour an agreement with the district administration for an increase in their wages.

The powerloom workers, who have been staging protest demonstrations and sit-in on the call of the Labour Qaumi Movement (LQM ), took out a big rally from the industrial area to Faisalabad Airport Chowk.

Because of the rally, Jhang Road remained blocked for traffic for more than two hours, causing inconvenience to the commuters.

Earlier, late on Monday night the workers had ended their 15-hour-long sit-in on an assurance given by the district administration officials that the powerloom owners would increase their wages as fixed by the government.

However, when workers went to work on Tuesday, the loom owners refused to accept the agreement reached between labour leaders and the government officials.

At this, the LQM leaders again gave a strike call, closing down the units on Wednesday and resumed the sit-in.

Addressing the protesters, LQM chief Baba Latif Ansari and powerloom workers union and Haqooq-I-Khalq Party leaders Yasir Jat, Abdul Sattar Buggar, Akbar Ali Kamboh, Shafiq Babar Randhawa and Abdul Sattar Qadri announced that the strike would continue till the owners raised the wages as per the government orders.

They condemned the textile yarn sizing and dying units’ owners for using second-hand polyester, acrylic and woolen clothes as fuel for the boilers, causing asthma and other diseases to hundreds of workers and their children, specially those residing in two villages -- Chak 66-JB, Dhandra and Chak 67-JB.

They also criticised the government for manifold increase in the electricity and gas tariffs.

They demanded the Faisalabad district administration to direct the department concerned to issue social security cards to all the workers.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2022