KARACHI: The government has been urged not to privatise public entities and immediately abolish anti-labour laws and practices.
The demand was raised by the speakers during a conference titled ‘Harmful Consequences of Privatisation and Unannounced Closure of Pakistan Steel Mills’, jointly organised by the National Trade Unions Federation (NTUF), Pakistan Steel Mills Officers, Workers Action Committee. The conference was attended by PTI leader Asad Umar, PIA Joint Action Committee leader Nasrullah Khan Afridi, Sheikh Majeed, NTUF Deputy General Secretary Nasir Mansoor, Pakistan Steel Officers, Workers Action Committee leaders Rehman Shah and Naveed Aftab and Pakistan Railways Workers Union former chairmen Haq Nawaz Akhter, Manzoor Razi, Liaquat Sahi and Rafiq Baloch.
The speakers said that the sitting government during the last two and a half years has dealt a serious blow to the national economy by implementing negative policies like selling national assets cheaply after deliberately damaging them and quoted the recently unannounced and illegal closure of the Pakistan Steel Mills.
Thousands of Pakistan Steel Mills’ workers are deprived of their salaries and have been facing serious financial problems beside the mental agony. The government has been following not only corrupt policies and nepotism in the mills but there are pending cases in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that were being delayed to provide protection to elements that looted and plundered this national asset.
The speakers lashed out at the government saying the present rulers are bent upon to harm this vital asset of Pakistan to ensure profits for their own steel mills. However, the workers of the Steel Mills are struggling to foil the conspiracy against their institution and stand united, which would defeat the bids of the government regarding privatisation and other anti-labour policies.
Speaking on the negative consequences of privatisation on society, they said the examples of damaging consequences of privatisation exist across the world and particularly the privatisation of civic service entities that directly hit the general public. This policy has failed across the world and resulted in the increase of poverty and economic crisis
In Pakistan sixty percent of the privatised entities are either closed down or working in loss, proving the government’ privatisation policy was a failure. It started on the behest of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international lending institutions.
The recent example of privatisation’s failure is the Business Train, PTCL, KESC, Rohri Cement Factory, Zeal Pak Cement and other privatised financial institutions. Half of the cement factories are either closed or being converted into residential schemes. The privatised banks have begun a new era of loot and plunder.
The promises made with the workers regarding protection of jobs at the time of privatisation of their organisations have proved a farce. These workers are being forcibly sacked and replaced by illegal contracts, which violates the ILO conventions and GSP+, which are guaranteed by the government of Pakistan.
Talking about the foul play and anti-worker mentality of the government, they said the government is benefiting private steel and cement mills through mega projects. The national airline is being harmed to benefit private airlines. The sitting rulers instead of a solid planning to improve the state-run institutions have made horrible plans to buy these national institutes through their front men on damn cheap rates. If serious steps are taken for the betterment of organisations, the government could put it on the path of progress and prosperity, whose recent example is the Pakistan Railways that is recovering due to a better management and solid steps against corruption.
They said that the present government in the past had claimed to end its begging routine but had bigger begging bowls every time it went to the World Bank and IMF. However, the people of Pakistan and their coming generations would face the consequences of these poisonous foreign loans as due to the anti-people policies of the present rulers, the IMF loans have crossed the limit of $75 billion and government is mortgaging the entire nation with its assets against these loans.
The speakers said that the workers have always protested against the wholesale selling of the state-run assets and have always put a strong resistance to the government’s anti-people policy and faced political violence. Its recent example is brave and peaceful struggle of the PIA workers against the privatisation and to suppress this struggle, the government used brutal power that resulted in deaths of two employees named Inayat Raza and Saleem Akbar among other workers getting injured. To harass the PIA employees, their four leaders were whisked away and kept in detention for many days. However, the struggle of the PIA workers and their sacrifices for anti-privatisation drive would not go in vain and their blood would result in the death of privatisation policy.