Raza Rabbani claims PSM retrenchment ‘illegal’

KARACHI: Terming retrenchment of Pakistan Steel Mills workers as an unconstitutional and illegal act of the federal government, the former Senate chairman Senator Raza Rabbani on Wednesday condemned issuance of retrenchment letters to over 4,500 workers. He demanded the federal government to withdraw all the removal orders and shelve the privatization plan of state institutions.

All workers bodies and progressive elements in political parties, civil society and academia will resist this anti-worker decision at all forums, Rabbani said while speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club attended by representatives of PSM’s various trade unions, civil society and labour support bodies.

Senator Rabbani said the decision to privatize or sell PSM is a part of the present government’s intentions to serve the interests of crony-capitalists of the world and international donors.

Federal institutions such as PSM are included in the Federal Legislative List Part-II of the Constitution and the Council of Common Interests (CII) is the only constitutional body to decide about privatization of those departments in the list, he said. He maintained that the federal cabinet has no power to decide about PSM’s privatization.

“This is an anti-workers’ government, which has signed an agreement with IMF and other international donors, to privatize all the public institutions and remove employees from these institutions.” There is a big list of institutions to be privatized, Rabbani said.

He said that the workers at national carrier PIA are already facing retrenchment as the government has imposed essential services order, due to which trade union activities are banned.

Karamat Ali, Executive Director of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), said that the entire leadership of trade unions in Pakistan has announced its support of the PSM workers. A Mazdoor Action Committee against Privatization is being formed at the national level by next week, he said.

This united platform of trade unions would launch a movement against privatization at all public sector organizations, including PIA, WAPDA, Railways, etc, Ali said.

Muhammad Yasin Jamro of Insaf Labour Union, CBA, said that all trade unions of PSM have joined hands irrespective of their political affiliation.

Although, the government ministers are saying they would offer a golden handshake package to retrenched workers, they have provided only one-month’s advance salary to the workers through the letter sent to the home address of over 4,500 workers, he said.

He asked all the workers not to receive the letter or withdraw the salaries from bank accounts as the CBA is fighting their case.

Mirza Maqsood Ahmed Steel Mills Officers Association, Shamshad Ahmed of Peoples Workers Union, Mahnaz Rahman of Aurat Foundation and others also spoke on the occasion.

Meanwhile, a large number of women workers in a protest organised by the Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) demanded immediate restoration of the 4,500 sacked workers of Pakistan Steel Mills.

Speakers at the protest held outside Karachi Press Club said that the sitting President and Prime Minister of Pakistan had promised that they would make the PSM a profitable organization, but they instead sacked 4,500 employees of the PSM at the stroke of a pen.

The Sindh government has announced constituting a committee to look into the issues of the Pakistan Steel Mills’ employees who have recently been laid off by the Centre. The decision to form the committee was announced by Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani on Wednesday as he met the representatives of the retrenched workers of the PSM at his camp office.

Speaking on the occasion, the labour minister strongly condemned the federal government’s decision “to render the PSM workers jobless”. He said the Sindh government stood by the dismissed staffers.