“War against privatisation” was declared in a mass gathering of workers and trade union leaders in a conference organized by the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign in Karachi on December 3, 2005. Raza Rabbani, the leader of the opposition in the senate was one of the main guests while Comrade Manzoor Ahmed, Member of the National Assembly and President of the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign, chaired the conference in which 34 trade unions representing workers from all the main industries in the country participated.

General view of the Conference and Trade union and Political Leaders

Around 400 delegates participated in the conference with great enthusiasm. Workers from different industries came in groups holding red flags and banners and chanting slogans against privatisation.

The conference, a landmark event in the struggle against privatisation, was held in the Karachi Press Club and was hosted by the Journalists’ Union. This meeting set the stage for a declaration of war on the reactionary policies of the state against the working class.

A number of trade union leaders attended the conference out of which many came forward and spoke against the draconian policies of the government. All the speakers condemned the government for the privatisation of KESC (Karachi Electric Supply Corporation) and the PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Limited). They also explained that privatising Pakistan Steel Mills would be a huge disaster not only for the industrial production of the country but for the working class. The privatisation of the company would sink thousands of workers and their families into a life of absolute poverty and misery.

Many of the trade union leaders explained that the rulers of Pakistan were simply following the dictates of the IMF and the World Bank. It was explained that after selling off the assets of the country, that many workers would be sacked and unemployment would increase. All the speakers expressed their anger at the policy of privatisation and accused the government of giving absolute freedom to the capitalists to maximise their profits.

Comrade Manzoor Ahmed explained that the rulers of Pakistan wanted to sell these industries, all of which were funded and created with public money, very cheaply for the benefit of the bosses and the imperialists. The workers will receive nothing from this privatisation. He explained that the struggles of the workers of the PTCL and the KESC offered many lessons to the working class. Manzoor appealed to the workers to go back to their areas and to continue organising this war against privatisation, promising that he would take up the fight in the National Assembly. Manzoor also contrasted the extreme difference between what is happening in Venezuela and what is happening in Pakistan. He explained that in Venezuela private property was being nationalized under workers’ control, whereas in Pakistan they were selling off state industries and companies and destroying the lives of the workers. He also explained that there was a large process of land reform in Venezuela, where huge landed estates were being given over to local peasants and farmers. He explained that the nationalisation of industry and the land reform in Venezuela was providing employment and creating jobs in Venezuela while in Pakistan the government was busy snatching the bread and butter of the working class. Manzoor explained that as long as the workers of Pakistan did not stand united in a struggle to defend their rights, that they would remain oppressed.

From Left Comrade Yawar,Comrade Manzoor Ahmed MP, Senator Raza

The leader of the opposition in the senate (the upper house of Pakistan’s parliament) and senior member of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party, Raza Rabbani, said that when a country is ruled by a government that is anti-working class, that that government would always sabotage the basic rights of the workers and safeguard the interests of the imperialists. Rabanni explained that the army generals in Pakistan wanted to sell all those industries that were nationalised under the first PPP government in the early 1970s. He also reminded those present that 2000 workers were sacked immediately following the privatisation of the PTCL and that many more sackings were being planned. The same thing would happen at Pakistan Steel after it was privatised. He said that the time would come when the workers of Pakistan would take control of these industries into their own hands and that they would expel these generals. This would be the only way forward for the Pakistani workers.

Comrade Manzoor Ahmed MP in his presidential address

There were many other people who spoke in the meeting. These included Sheikh Majeed from the Peoples’ Labour Bureau (PIA), Habib ud din Junaidi from the Banks Trade Union Alliance of Pakistan, Wahab Baloch of UBL Employees Union, Manzoor Razi from the Railway Workers’ Federation, Noor Muhammad from the Pakistan Trade Union Federation, Karamat Hussain from Nijkari Mukhalif Ittehad, Jalil Shah the General Secretary of the Karachi Port Trust, Syed Hameed from the Pakistan Workers’ Confederation, Abdul Haq from Watan Dost Mazdoor Federation, Muhammad Morial Panwhar from the Sindh Highway Employees’ Union, Ayub Qureshi from the Pakistan Revolutionary Front, Latif Mughal from the KESC Peoples’ Union, Mirza Maqsood from the Pakistan Steel Joint Action Committee ( JAC), Dhani Baksh Samoon and Syed Hamid Ullah from the Peoples’ Workers’ Union of Pakistan Steel, Naveed Aftab from the PTUDC Pakistan Steel, and Manzoor Badauni from the Peoples’ Employees’ United Front Machine Tool Factory.

The “War Against Privatisation” Conference was able to bring many workers from many of Pakistan’s industries together. The unions that participated in the conference were:

1. Joint Action Committee of Pakistan Steel Employees (JAC)

2. Pakistan Federal Union of Journalist

3. KPT (Karachi Port Trust) labour union CBA

4. Pakistan Workers’ Confederation

5. Banks Trade Union Alliance

6. All-Pakistan Trade Union Organization

7. Peoples’ Workers’ Union Pakistan Steel

8. Employees’ Union of Pakistan Steel

9. UBL Employees’ Union

10. National Alliance of Trade Unions (State Bank)

11. Liberal Union of the Pakistan Machine Tool Factory (CBA)

12. PC Hotel Workers’ Union

13. Nijkari Mukhalif Ittehad (Anti-Privatisation Alliance) Karachi

14. KESC (Karachi Electric Supply Corporation) Workers’ Union

15. Peoples Unity of PIA

16. Peoples’ Labour Bureau

17. Railway Workers’ Federation

18. Peoples’ Employees’ United Front City District Government Karachi

19. Pakistan Trade Union Federation

20. Shaheed Nazeer Abbasi Federation

21. Sindhi Porhait Sangat

22. National Organisation of Postal Employees (NOPE) (CBA)

23. Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research

24. All-Pakistan RMS Employees’ Union CBA

25. Karachi Shoemakers’ Workers Union

26. Pakistan Textile Workers’ Union

27. Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum

28. All-Pakistan Clerks’ Association

29. Progressive Workers’ Union Pakistan Steel

30. Transport Workers’ Union

31. Pakistan Nursing Federation

32. Pakistan Paramedical Staff Association

33. Peoples’ Paramedical Staff Association

34. Pakistan Revolutionary Front
    
    

The following resolutions were passed at the conference:

1. We declare war against the privatisation policy of this government and will do everything we can to stop it. All the unions in Pakistan should support the steel workers in this struggle

2. We condemn the privatisation of Pakistan Steel and demand that the government stop this process.

3. We support the cause of the daily wage workers (temporary workers) of the PTCL that have been expelled and demand that they be given jobs at the PTCL on a permanent basis.

4. We demand that the government stop following the policies of the IMF and the World Bank.

5. We demand the nationalization of all industries and the commanding heights of the economy under the democratic control and management of the working class.

6. We appeal to all workers to unite against the reactionary policies of the government and overthrow this rotten capitalist system.

Senator Raza Rabbani (Opposition Leader in Senate) delivering his speech

Cutting from Daily DAWN