Speakers at PSM employees’ protest warn of taking every legal action to stop govt plans

Demanding that the federal government withdraw its ‘illegal and inhumane’ decision to dismiss the employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), trade union leaders on Monday said they would not accept the privatisation of the entity or any step in that direction.

The Pakistan Steel Labour Union (PASLU) organised a protest outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) to castigate the possible retrenchment of 9,350 PSM employees. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman also addressed the protest. He said if the decision was not taken back, every legitimate step would be taken, including approaching courts.

He was of the view that the Supreme Court had been provided with incorrect information on the PSM issues and expressed the hope that the court would provide justice to the employees. Expressing his confidence in the court, he said he hoped that every aspect would be taken into account to save the PSM employees from mental and economic agony.

“What had been the reasons behind the PSM, which once earned Rs16 billion in 2007, going into a loss of Rs10 billion in 2009,” he questioned. No government in the past and even the present rulers took interest in running the national entity, he remarked.

He also expressed his reservations on the golden handshake money to the employees and the privatisation of the PSM. The JI leader asked the federal government to elucidate the ground on which the PSM would be privatised. “There are reports that the PSM is being handed over to Italy, Poland or Israel under the guise,” he said. To the objection that a Rs550 million month subsidy had to be provided to the PSM, Rehman questioned why a subsidy of billions per month was being given to the K-Electric.

PASLU President Asim Bhatti said they would not accept the privatisation of the PSM. “Monday’s protest would compel the government to withdraw its decision,” he said. JI Karachi Naib Emir and PSM Restoration Committee President Dr Osama Razi in his address said that unity of all the workers unions on a single platform for their common right would definitely bear fruit.

National Labour Federation (NLF) Pakistan Vice President Zafar Khan said the government would have to take back the decision or else it would be the beginning of its downfall. Former PASLU president and JI Information Secretary Zahid Askari said an earlier government attempt to retrench the PSM employees had also failed and this time it would also meet the same fate.

NLF President Khalid Khan said despite making promises to safeguard the PSM employees’ jobs, the government was trying to retrench them and sell the national entity to its dear ones.