RAWALPINDI: Sanitation workers of Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) on Tuesday staged a protest to press the Punjab government to regularise their services and announced a series of protest from April 20 and a sit-in on May 4 if demands are not met.
A protest demonstration was held outside the Rawalpindi Press Club under the leadership of President Municipal Labour Union Raja Haroon Rasheed and General Secretary Pastor Shahid Raza.
A large number of daily wage employees of the municipal corporation participated in the protest and raised slogans in favour of their demands. Addressing the protesters, President Municipal Labor Union Raja Haroon Rasheed said that it is completely unfair not to make daily wage employees permanent who have been working for a long time.
He said that the employees have been working on very low wages for many years, but despite this, the promises to make them permanent are not being fulfilled.
Raja Haroon Rasheed warned that if the problems of the employees are not resolved immediately, the scope of the protest will be expanded. He announced that a series of protests will be held in various union councils of the city from April 20, in which employees will participate with full force.
He further said that protest rallies will be held at Suthra Punjab Agency Iran Road on April 20, General Bus Stand Pirwadhai on April 22, Shahbaz Sharif Hockey Ground Union Council on April 24, Mukha Singh Estate on April 27, Children Park Committee Chowk on April 29, and Potohar Town, Kotha Kalan, Dhok Chaudhrian on May 2.
After that, he said that the protest rallies will turn into protest camps from May 4. All employees will work until 10 am. After that, no employee will do any kind of work and will participate in the protest camp. Raja Haroon Rashid said that Eid-ul-Adha is coming.
“If the demands are not met, the union will be forced to take a strict course of action. He warned that if the demands are not accepted, the sanitation work in the city will be stopped, for which the entire responsibility will fall on the administration,” he said.
Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2026