Insurance workers facing financial crunch

Islamabad : Hundreds of field workers of State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) of Pakistan numbering over 200,000 are facing great financial hardships and have appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed Khan to address their grievances.

Mulazim Hussain, leader of All Pakistan SLIC Field Workers along with Sales Managers, Sardar Altaf , Ch Abdul Manaf, Najeeb Abbasi, Islamabad Zon alleged that because of implementation of a policy since February 01,2019 by Board of Governors of this corporation, under which all sales officers of SLIC were merged into Sales Manager cadre due to which 50 per cent emoluments/benefits were slashed.

They alleged that because of this policy not only SLIC faced negative impact with regard to generating financial income but also 28 field workers died after getting affected with this plan.

Similarly, with the spread of coronavirus in February and subsequent lockdown, the situation further worsened forcing the field workers to suffer badly in terms of earning income through commission which according to them has touched to zero level.

Continuing, they alleged that though field workers have been suffering enormously and raised their voices for getting justice however, the high level authorities while adopting stubbornness has taken no step to provide any kind of relief to them for improving their financial situation.

The field workers do not get salaries but rely on commission, claimed Sardar Altaf along with other representatives. On the other hand with our hard work, full dedication, SLIC had been achieving triple rating award (AAA) and making great progress which includes construction of buildings worth billions of rupees all over the country which have been rented out to different parties.

Sardar Altaf, Mulazim Hussain Khera along with others appealed to the Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Gulzar Ahmed Khan for taking suo moto action with the purpose resolving the issue of the SLIC field workers. Similarly, they also appealed to Prime Minister of Pakistan , Imran Khan to take immediate notice in order to resolve the grievances of the field workers which are facing great problems after the enforcement of new law since February 01, 2019.

When contacted SLIC Executive Director Muhammad Izqar Khan denied the claims of the field workers that they are suffering from the high handedness of the management. Rather, clearing, he said that the decision was taken in a meeting of Board of Governors of State Life Insurance Corporation in accordance with the instructions of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). He said that the SECP had directed all the insurance companies to curtail their expenses to overcome losses.

Following the directives of SECP, Board of Governors decided to promote sales officers as Sales Managers. He also denied that while promoting sales officers into Sales Manager cadre no commission was decreased, Rather, he said it was increased by 2 to 3 per cent. The policy announced and decided by Board of Governors was taken to save expenses and not against any field staff. He also refuted the number of field workers. Izkar Khan stated that the number of 2 lakh field workers is exaggerated figure which is too high as alleged by the field staff.