Pakistan: Militant workers’ struggle at Karachi Electric Supply Corporation

The struggle of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation workers is continuing amid severe repression on the part of management and the government. On June 22 goons used by KESC management together with a neo-fascist organization in Karachi attacked the rally of KESC workers in Nazimabad with firearms in which three workers were seriously injured.

The ruling class is terrified of this movement and is trying every means possible to crush it. Meanwhile the workers are getting support from other departments also. More than 20,000 workers participated in the June 20 rally, which included workers from Karachi Port Trust, State Bank of Pakistan, Railways and other departments.

The PTUDC has been playing a key role in this movement since the beginning and has staged many protests in support of the KESC workers in many cities of Pakistan. In the hot summer season power outages of up to 14 hours a day have made Karachi a living hell for ordinary people; therefore, common citizens of Karachi have started supporting the demand to bring KESC back under government control and to kick out private management.

The present struggle started on December 31, 2010, when the private management of KESC introduced a so called VSS (Voluntary Separation Scheme) which was rejected by the 4500 workers of KESC. The private management sacked all these workers on January 19. On January 20 the KESC Labour Union (CBA) went to the NIRC (National Industrial Relations Commission) at 8am to protests against this decision and ten thousand workers came along. They came to discover that the Judge was on leave and would return on January 24.

The labour union then staged a protest mass meeting in Fawara Square in front of the Governor’s House. The People’s Workers’ Union and the Kasoti Union also joined in. The leaders of all the unions took a decision that they should surround the KESC House. Then a great mass of workers started to march towards the KESC house. Inspired by the revolution in Tunisia, some of the workers could not control their anger and started to take revenge by attacking this magnificent palace in which conspiracies are plotted against the workers. The leadership had not made any such decision but the workers could not control themselves.

Afterwards there was a sit in outside the KESC House. All political parties and trade union federations came there to express solidarity with the workers but the workers were most impressed by the leadership of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign because there was truth in their sentiments and in what they expressed. The PTUDC’s leaflets and pamphlets also made a deep impression on the workers.

In order to show solidarity with the KESC workers, demonstrations were organized across the country. The MQM tried to hijack the workers’ movement using various tactics but the leadership of the workers defeated all such efforts.

The workers were very much disappointed by the role of Pakistani media and they came to realize that this media does not represent the workers and the poor but is in the pockets of the capitalists and always protects their interests. The role of the courts made it clear to the workers that they could not get justice from these either. The Chief Justice of Pakistan did not take Suo Moto action [i.e. did not initiate proceedings] against the injustices suffered by the 4500 workers.

After four days of hard struggle and duplicity and false promises on the part of the state, the wisdom and farsightedness of the leadership forced the Government to press upon the KESC management to reinstate the sacked workers. They did so in the fear that workers all over the country would rise up against the injustices and brutalities committed by the ruling class. Under this pressure the CEO of KESC, Tabish Gohar was forced to announce the restoration order in front of the press.

However, the joy of the workers was short lived as the CEO of KESC appeared on TV the following day to announce that the reinstatement order had been made under pressure from the Government and that the 4500 workers would be sacked anyway. This was an open threat by a small part of this rotten capitalist system. This was followed by oppressive measures against the workers on the part of Management. False cases were registered against the workers’ leaders, accusing them of attacking the KESC House. Workers were put in the surplus labour pool and made to work through a third party contractor. The workers were deprived of their benefits and the salaries of thousands of workers were stopped. The workers were subjected to mental torture. Electricity meters at their houses were being checked and despite the fact that they are entitled to free electricity they were given charge sheets. Some were accused of opening an envelope and others of stealing tea bags! 150 workers were given charge sheets for attacking the KESC House and were sacked.

Against this oppression by management the Workers’ Alliance announced a hunger strike till death on April 29. The leaders of the Labour Union (CBA) and Kasoti Union went on hunger strike, whereas the leaders of the People’s Workers’ Union participated in a symbolic hunger strike. On 1^st May despite a boycott by MQM (neo-fascist party) the KESC workers organized the largest mass meeting in the city. The condition of the workers and leaders participating in the hunger strike became critical and they had to be taken to hospital. When this failed to move the management, the KESC workers stopped going to work and sat at the Press Club with their fellow workers and leaders which resulted in the disruption and disturbance of the power supply in the city of Karachi. All KESC centres were closed.

MQM units started rectifying the complaints by charging money from the public and used its goons to do the work of KESC workers. Millions of rupees have been extorted from the people of Karachi in this way. MQM thugs also threatened the workers and officers of KESC and forced them to open some of the KESC centres.

The KESC workers started organizing rallies against the management and the privatization of KESC. There have not been such big workers’ rallies in Karachi in the recent past and yet the media gave them no coverage. On Friday, June 3, the KESC workers called for a “shutter down” and transportation strike against privatization, load shedding, plunder and fake billing. The strike was supported by many parties along with Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign.

For the first time in Karachi a strike on specifically workers’ issue was a huge success. With their successful strike the workers of Karachi sent a message to the secret agencies and state that Karachi did not belong to any terrorist group but belonged to the poor and workers of this city. But still, the strike failed to shift the government and management and it was decided by the Workers’ Alliance to stage a rally and sit in at KESC House on June 13 which is still taking place.

On June 20 a huge rally was organized from the Tower to Jinnah’s Mausoleum which was attended by a large number of trade union activists. The participants in the rally staged a sit in at Geo TV channel’s office. Geo channel is supporting the brutal management and is broadcasting poisonous propaganda against the workers. At the end of the rally the leader of Workers’ Alliance, Akhlaq Ahmed Khan criticized the MQM for using its goons to open the KESC centres at gun point. He said that next plan of action would be announced soon.

The struggle of the KESC workers is part of the class war between the privileged, the capitalists, foreign extortionists and the working class. On one side there are those who are paid millions and on the other there are the deprived workers who are paid a mere few thousands. The current private management makes billions of rupees every month from electricity bills and uses this money to bribe the top layers of the government, the biggest mafia of the city called the MQM, and the media. There is an army of ministers, advisers and retired military officers who are paid millions just to keep the exploitation of the masses going on.

The leadership of the Workers’ Alliance should make the fight against privatization their top priority and should take this movement beyond KESC and include other workers in this struggle. The PPP is visibly divided into two groups. The top leadership is with the management, but the lower level leadership is with the workers but they don’t have any voice in making the decisions.

The PPP workers in KESC are disappointed with the criminal silence of their government. MQM has been exposed and contrary to their claims of being the representative of 98% the population, they have shown that they are with the capitalists who are attacking the workers. This time there were very few leaders that came from the political parties to express solidarity. This is because they don’t have any more lies to tell or any more dreams to sell. Although this movement has not yet reached its logical conclusion, the workers have shown their determination and revolutionary spirit.

The leaflets and speeches from the PTUDC comrades has shown the workers the real way forward, and subsequent events are proving them correct. This is why they have gained so much influence during the movement. They have appealed the workers to cut off electricity to the Governor’s House, the Chief Minister’s House, and other important state departments. Also they have gathered support for KESC workers from other institutions and industries. They have also explained that the real problem is the capitalists system itself which can only be replaced by socialism. The state is subservient to the foreign capitalists and imperialists and has nothing to offer the workers other than hunger, deprivation, price hikes and unemployment.

We appeal to the workers of the world to support this movement and raise this matter in their Trade Unions and Federations. Protests outside Pakistani Embassies around the world can give this movement real strength and can help KESC workers to achieve their cause.