NATIONAL TRADE UNION FEDERATION,PAKISTAN(NTUF) PRESS STATEMENT ON PLIGHT OF UNION ACTIVISTS BOOKED UNDER ANTI TERRORIST ACT

It is very vulnerable situation for trade union activist that trend to try union activist under ATC has been gain popularity among factory and private corporations to crush the growing healthy phenomenon of trade unionism in industrial sector.

Last week on 22 March seven power loom workers of Etehad town industrial area in Baldia town Karachi were picked up by the Ranger in mid night raid and after appearing of news item about missing workers in some news papers handed over to Machhco police station on 23March. One worker Hazarat Yousuf was released the same night and other six (Arshad, Neak Muhammed,Saif u Rehman, Nizam u Din, Akhter Ali and Shaukat) were severely tortured by the police in the presence of SHO (Machhco Police Station) Nasir Mehmood.

The police officer forcing them to accept their involvement in extortion activities in front of electronic media but workers flatly deny the charges of their involvement in bhatta collection in any way.

The actual situation is that in Etehad town more than one thousand illegal power looms,towel and other manufacturing units have been established where more than 50,000 workers engaged to produce merchandise for the big textile exporting tycoons.

Majority of these factories have not been registered under factory act so not a single worker getting minimum wage of 7000 per month, not covered under any social and old age benefit institutes and no one have appointment which is shear violation of existing labour laws. Working condition are worst and average worker’s working hours are ranging from 10 to 16 hour a day with out any facility of over time.

When the power loom worker registered their union with labour department two month ago and demanded to increase the wages and improvement in working conditions, factory owners sacked more than 350 workers from their jobs, one and half month ago and try to recruit new one on the job.

When union registered their complain with labour department through written application, labour department took action and called the factory owners to explain their position, instead of following the law full process they restore to illegal mean and involved the Rangers and police in industrial dispute to harasse the demanding workers and union activists.

Having the backing of high ups in administration and closed connection with power circles they have use the brutal force against the innocent workers and booked them under Anti Terrorist Act with false charges of bhatta collection.

The same method was used in Faisalabad six months ago against six trade union activists and get convicted for 490 years in ATC and in recent past tried to trail the KESC union representative under the same notorious ATA in Karachi.

We appeal to the Chief Justice of Supreme Court and the chief Justice of Sindh High Court to look into the use of ATA against trade union activist and take corrective measures to halt the misuse of the law to appease the capitalist by police and rangers.

We also appeal to IG and DIG to stop their officers at police station indulging in industrial dispute and favoring the factory owners unlawfully and use the police force against the union activists.

Nasir Mansoor
Deputy General Secretary
National Trade Union Federation,Pakistan
404 Mashriq Center Gulshan Iqbal 14, Karachi
www.ntufpak.org

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Updates on Workers trial in ATC in Karachi

Six power looms union activist of Etehad Town industrial area,Karachi who were charged under terrorist act have been produced in Anti Terrorist Court no.2 in Karachi Yesterday.

They were severely tortured in Machko police station whole night on the instruction of SHO Nasir Mehmood. He forced the arrested workers to accept before the media of their involvement in extortion (Bhatta) activities in the industrial area but didn’t bow down and firmly stood against the false charges. Workers were exposed to the torture because of formation of their union and registered it with registrar of trade unions. police received bribe from powerful textile exporters to crush to newly formed union.

On Saturday the ATC Judge order the Investigation Officer (IO) to investigate the case with out touching the workers and interfering of SHO of Machko police station and produce them on 29March, give proper medical treatment to six tortured workers and snub the police officers. The Judge also warned the police against their third degree tactics in written order. The FIR is against total 12 workers including office bearer of Al Etehad Power Looms Mazdoor(Labor) Union out of which six are under arrest. Sardar Azamat Hussain Advocate appeared in ATC on behalf of workers.

The union affiliated with
NTUF has decided to submit a petition in Sindh High Court to challenge the trial of workers in ATC.

Factory owner Rehan Chawla who has put the workers behind the bar through using his connection with high ups and bribing the SHO with hefty amount continuously threatening the workers. He has close connect with CPLC Chairman Ahmed Chenay and business partnership with big wigs.

Al Karam Textile group one of the largest textile barons also involved to crush the workers movement in area where it run hundreds of illegal manufacturing units with out registering them under factory laws and denying all labor related benefits to thousand of workers.

The union members, office bearers and NTUF representatives are going to held emergency meeting today and formulated their action plan and announcement will be made tonight.

Nasir Mansoor
Deputy General Secretary
National Trade Union Federation Pakistan

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‘Protesting’ labourers booked under extortion charges

Karachi

The labourers, who were picked up during a joint Rangers-police raid in Ittehad Town on Wednesday night, were formally shown booked under extortion charges late on Thursday night. Labourers staged a rally on Friday, alleging that their movement for the rights was being crushed by portraying them as extortionists.

Earlier, the whereabouts of some 12 labourers were not known as the area police denied detaining them.According to General Secretary of All Ittehad Power Looms Mazdoor Union (Registered) Muhammad Amin, seven workers who were said to be in the Rangers’ custody were handed over to the Machko police station, while one of the “abducted” workers Hazrat Yusuf was released. An FIR has been registered against 12 workers of six industrial units in which some office-bearers of the union were also nominated.

Amin said that these workers were booked on the charges of demanding extortion amounting to Rs7,10,000 per month from their employer who is a noted exporter of textile garments.

It is pertinent to mention here that the custody of these workers was handed over to the police only after The News attempted to seek Rangers’ version about the detention of these workers on Thursday night. The Rangers spokesman had denied taking any kind of action against these workers.

Amin said that the released labourer Hazrat Yusuf was too much terrified and he was not in a position to narrate the ordeal of his detention by the Rangers. He said that Yusuf started weeping when he was asked by his coworkers whether he was tortured during the custody. Interestingly, police record shows that the FIR against these workers was registered on March 14, whereas they were picked up during a raid a couple of days ago. There arises a question as to why the LEAs took so much time to take action against these “extortionists” when the FIR was registered on the said date. However, the police used to deny that these labourers were in their custody.

According to the union leader, the police and the Rangers conducted an operation against some workers of the factories on Wednesday night, who had been protesting for the last one-and-a-half months for the increase in their wages and for having weekly off.

Amin said all these workers hardly earn Rs7,000 per month and they work for 12 to 16 hours a day, which was against the labour laws. “There are around 2,000 power-looms and towel manufacturing industries at Ittehad Town, which are not even duly registered under the Factory Act, and the workers in question do not have appointment letters and they are not registered with the EOBI (Employees Old-age Benefit Institution) or with any other organization that is responsible for the welfare of the labourers.”

He said that 350 labourers from six industrial units were fired from their jobs and new workers were recruited at these factories being owned by a single proprietor. Meanwhile, hundreds of labourers associated with the union staged a rally near Zainab Market facing the Governor House and marched towards Karachi Press Club (KPC).They were carrying placards inscribed with slogans against the Rangers and the police.

The rally participants also included Siaf-ur-Rehman, Nizam Afridi, Bacha Ali, Akhtar Ali, Shaukat, Irshad, Khan Zareen, Abdul Muhammad, Muhammad Amin, Sanaullah, Azam and Umar Gul, who have been nominated in the FIR. Abdul Muhammad is the president and Muhammad Amin is the general secretary of the union.

Deputy General Secretary of National Trade Unions Federation (NTUF) Nasir Mansoor, who also participated in the rally, told this scribe that the labourers’ movement for their rights was being crushed by leveling extortion charges against them.

“It is a simple industrial dispute and the workers had approached Labour Directorate for getting their rights but the industrialist did not appear before the directorate,” he said. “The labourers are being threatened with dire consequences since the employer has connections with high-ups.”

Qadeer Tanoli
Saturday, March 24, 2012

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