Pakistan: PTUDC Conference against privatisation in Karachi

The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign held a conference against privatisation on 31 May at the Karachi Press Club. Workers and trade union leaders who had come from industrial areas of Karachi and other cities of Sindh attended the conference in big numbers.

Comrade Riaz Hussain Lund Baloch, President of the PTUDC, presided the conference. Those who spoke at the occasion were: Nazar Mengal Secretary General PTUDC, Anwar Panwhar President PTUDC Sindh, Akbar Memon from the Steel Mills Secretary General PTUDC Karachi, Rais Baig Joint Secretary PTUDC Karachi, Sheikh Mohi ud Din Senior Vice-President PTUDC Karachi, Zubair Rehman Press Secretary PTUDC Karachi and famous Journalist, Comrade Jam Saqi former Secretary General of the Communist Party of Pakistan, Manzoor Razi President Railway Workers’ Federation, Liaqat Sahi General Secretary CBA Union State Bank of Pakistan, Malik Asif Hayat President CBA Union House Building Finance Corporation HBFC, Arif Din General Secretary CBA Union HBFC, Aftab Channa from HBFC, Athar Zaidi General Secretary HBFC Officers Union CBA, Manzoor Mallah Divisional President Railway Mehnat Kush Union, Karamat Hussain from KESC Labour Union, Azhar Hassan from Daily Wages Action Committee Civil Aviation Authority, Bashir Chandio from WAPDA Hydro Union, Manzoor Aheer from Highways Union, Parshotum leader of Pakistan Hospital Workers Union, Maqbool from PTA, Muhammad Jaffer Khan from Muttahida Labour Federation, Dad Mir Baloch from Postal Workers Union NOPE, Asad ullah General Secretary Pakistan Post DMO Union, Nawab Shajro Jamshoro Power House Union, Qamar Abbas from Postal Life Insurance.

All the speakers condemned the privatisation policy of the current PPP-led government and said that the privatisation policy has destroyed the livelihood of millions of families. 184 departments and industries have already been privatised, which has not only led to downsizing and sacking of thousands of employees but also the infrastructure of the country has collapsed, which is killing many people every day.

The speakers explained that when the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation was privatised thousands of workers were sacked from their jobs, along with this the electric supply infrastructure has collapsed and there is no electricity available for nearly 18 hours a day. The miseries of life have increased manifold due to this policy.

Now the government is going to privatise the Railways, post office, utility stores, WAPDA and other key departments which will increase the miseries of life for the poor. The workers of these departments will be sacked in big numbers as was done after the privatisation of Pakistan Telecom Corporation Limited.

In his speech Comrade Riaz Lund attacked the new Labour Policy of the Government and said that the new Industrial Relations Ordinance is more anti-labour and cruel than the previous one and this has benefited the industrialists and capitalists while workers rights have been curbed.

He said that the PTUDC will work for the rights of the workers and will unite the workers of all sectors on one platform to fight the war against Privatisation. He said that the capitalist system is crumbling in the whole world and rights of workers are being attacked. The only way forward is to fight this capitalist system and change this brutal system with a socialist system and planned economy. He said that workers have nothing to lose but their chains and they have a world to win!

The following resolutions were passed unanimously in the conference:

1. The privatisation of 23 institutions should be immediately stopped and all the privatised departments like PTCL and KESC should be nationalized and placed under workers’ control.

2. The Privatisation Commission and Ministry should be abolished

3. Anti-Labour Law and IRO 2008 should be abolished and new laws in favour of workers should be implemented.

4. A minimum wage should be fixed at Rs. 15000 per month

5. Contract and daily wages labour should be abolished and all the workers should be made permanent.

6. All the taxes on basic food items and medicines should be abolished.

7. Double the wages of all government employees.

8. Workers should be given a share in the production of all industries.

9. Workers should be given to right to form unions in private enterprises.

10. A referendum should be held immediately at the State Bank of Pakistan.

11. All the daily wage workers of Pakistan Steel, Civil Aviation Authority, Machine Tool Factory and Pakistan International Airlines should be made permanent and given all benefits.

12. All the privatised berths and schools of Karachi Port Trust should be taken back from private owners.

13. People affected by the Army operations in Swat should be given all basic necessities and their problems should be immediately solved.

14. The Army operation in Balochistan should be stopped immediately and all the missing persons should be found immediately.

15. Metropolitan Steel Corporation should be nationalized and all the sacked workers should be reinstated.

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