Power sector union assails ‘curbs’

LAHORE: Khurshid Ahmad, general secretary of All Pakistan Wapda Hydroelectric Workers Union (APWHWU), has rejected a news item that the application of the Pakistan Essential Service (Maintenance) Act 1952 had prohibited Pakistan power sector entities including distribution companies (Discos) and generation companies (Gencos).

It was relevant to inform that the employees working in Discos had been performing their duties for the prevention of theft of electricity and recovery of electricity revenue without observing weekly holidays at the risk of their health, he said in a statement.

He drew the government attention to the fact that it had ratified the ILO Convention No 87 which guaranteed the fundamental right to freedom of association.

He said the government had also entered into an agreement with the European Union to guarantee the right to freedom of association of workers.

He demanded that the government not privatize national electricity companies in the wider public interest. He pointed out that the privatization of thermal generation had been miserably failed.