HYDERABAD, April 19: The secretary-general of Sindh Sugar Mills Trade Unions Federation, Bashir Ahmed, has criticized owners of sugar mills for resorting to large scale retrenchment of workers and ignoring labour laws.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, he said that mill owners had introduced the contract system and appointed workers at extremely low wages after sacking the permanent employees.

He said that by adopting the strategy, the mill owners were not contributing anything towards social security as they were under no obligation to provide any facility or extend fringe benefits to contract employees.

Mr Ahmed also criticized the silence of the labour department, saying that it was the duty of the department to enforce labour laws but it appeared that mill owners enjoyed the blessings of the labour department officials.

He warned that the prevailing situation could destroy the industrial peace.

The labour leader alleged that the Faran Sugar Mills had terminated the services of all the 426 permanent employees of the mill just by publishing an advertisement in a newspaper.

Condemning the action of the mill management, he called upon the concerned authorities to take notice of the flagrant violation of law and provide service security to employees.