KARACHI: Former workers of the Pakistan Steel Mills, under the umbrella of ‘Retired Employees Unity of Pakistan Steel’ held a demonstration outside the local press club on Thurs­day to demand their dues.

Their leaders told the media that for six years now, they had not been getting the interest being collected from their provident fund amount. Most of them are not even getting their pension as is their right under the Employees’ Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) rules, according to them.

Speaking to the participants, Mirza Maqsood, the organisation’s secretary, said that when Pakistan Steel Mills workers were being forcibly removed, the provincial government had promised to hire them all again and regularise them after coming to power which did not happen. “The PSM was also closed though it was said that it would be reopened. Now we want it reopened to save the country from a loss of six billion dollars,” he said.

“It is sad to see how the cases being filed by PSM employees in courts are being dealt with by judges. They are dismissing them without any thought. These cases were filed when the institution was still functioning,” he said.

He also said that if their pleas were not heard, they would start holding sit-ins, starting with a four-hour protest outside the PSM head office on February 7. And if the demands are still not met, they would surround the EOBI office at Nursery, Sharea Faisal, next.

Labour leaders call for fixing minimum pension at Rs20,000

Leaders of other trade unions said that pensions should start from Rs20,000.

Senior leader of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) Karamat Ali said the Constitution and relevant laws allowed rehiring and regularisation of PSM workers.

Other trade unionists including Faheem Siddiqui of dthe Karachi Union of Journalists, Bushra Arain of the All Lady Health Workers, Farhat Parween of Now Communities. Ghulam Meh­boob of the Pearl Continental Hotelers Workers Union, Qamarul Hasan of Inter­national Unions of Foods, Saeed Baloch of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Abdul Rauf of the United Labour Fede­ration, Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federa­tion, Zahra Khan of the Home-Based Women Workers Federa­tion, Liaquat Sahi of the Demo­cratic Workers Union and Qazi Siraj of Jasarat union, as well as former workers Abdul Waheed, Mohammed Shafiq, Shaikh Mohammed Hashim and Shafi Siddiqi also spoke.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2023