HYDERABAD, Aug 10: The leaders of the National Labour Federation (NLF) have said the second phase of the protest movement, launched by the Federation on Aug 7 for the rights of the working class, will continue till Aug 17.

In furtherance of this objective, office-bearers of more than one hundred trade unions would stage a protest demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club on Aug 17.

Speaking at a news conference at the Hyderabad Press Club on Saturday, Sindh NLF president Rana Mehmood Ali Khan, flanked by Mohammad Hanif Khanzada, Shakeel Ahmad Shaikh, Mohammad Saeed and Abdul Karim Mangwano, said the NLF had earlier launched a two-week protest movement from July 11 to July 25.

He said 40 per cent industrial units in the province, including Karachi SITE, Hyderabad, Kotri, Sukkur, Tando Adam, Larkana, Shikarpur, Nawabshah and other towns, had been closed during Gen Musharraf’s regime. These units could not be rehabilitated and there were no chances of any future investment in the province, he claimed.

He said due to wrong economic policies of the government, the working class had suffered the most and added that the inordinate increase in prices of utilities and unemployment had made the lives of workers miserable.

He said lawlessness, poverty and load-shedding were the other presents which were given to people by Gen Pervez Musharraf’s government but he was still claiming to have brought about record economic reforms in the country.

The NLF leader said 350,000 employees had been sacked from public sector and other government organizations whereas 100,000 workers had been retrenched in the private sector.

Khan said the Fauji Sugar Mills, Tando Mohammad Khan, had also been closed and 1,600 employees had been rendered jobless, adding that the retrenchment process was also going on in the remaining 31 sugar mills of the province.

He said the unemployment in the country had reached nine per cent and prices of petrol had increased from Rs28 per litre to Rs33.68 per litre (30 per cent), notwithstanding the fact that prices of petrol in the world market had increased only by 18 per cent.

He said that prior to Oct 12, 1999, a consumer had to pay Rs2,800 power bill for 1,000 units whereas now he had to pay Rs4,480 for the same number of units, in addition to other taxes. Similarly, gas bill on 500,000 units had increased from Rs2,680 to Rs3,300.

The NLF leader said the purchasing power of the rich had increased by 23 per cent but of the poor it had increased only by two per cent.

He said seven million more people had joined the below poverty list and added that the ratio of suicide was 2000 in a year.

He demanded of the government to take steps to eliminate price-hike, poverty, and unemployment and remove army administrators from various industrial units.

Khan further demanded to reinstate workers of Shah Murad, Habib, Mehran and Al-Noor sugar mills, accept demands of the Karachi Shipyard Mazdoor Union and remove its managing director, and stop the victimization of the general-secretary of the union, Mohammad Iqbal, forthwith.

His other demands included the reinstatement of the general- secretary, Faran Sugar Mills Mazdoor Union, Abdul Karim Mangwano, and the general-secretary, Shah Murad Sugar Mills Union, Lakha Dino Jaskani, end of contract and daily wage system in industrial units, payment of two months salaries to over 20,000 local bodies employees and immediate release of Rs70 million for the payment of salaries and other legal benefits to employees of the Hyderabad Development Authority.

The NLF leader said status quo should be maintained in the public health department and the labour policy should be based on issues, agreed between employers and employees.

He warned that any unilateral amendment by the government in the labour policy on the agreed points would not be acceptable to the workers.