KARACHI, Oct. 25: Sindh Labour Solidarity Committee has expressed serious concern over the new privatization policy of the present government and demanded the government to withdraw this policy to sell the valuable state-owned corporations, because this policy would ultimately be harmful to the workers livelihood rights.

At its first formal meeting at PILER Centre Saturday, the Sindh Labour Solidarity Committee, which was formed after the 3-day Sindh Labour Conference on [September] 26-28, 2014, appealed to the workers of those government organizations, which are put for privatization, to raise their voice against privatization policy.“We would fully support and take part in any movement by the workers of the state-owned organizations to end the privatization process," a resolution of the Committee stated.

The Committee reviewed the situation of labour laws and expressed concern over delay in the legislation by the provincial governments and demanded that all the provinces should make new labour laws after 18Constitutional Amendment. The meeting condemned the killings of eight workers hailing from Punjab in Lasbela, Balochistan and demanded the provincial government to bring the culprits to books. They regretted that the innocent workers of the poultry farms were first kidnapped by the outlaws and later killed and their bodies were thrown in Sakran area in Balochistan. The reports also indicated that the killers first identified them and then shot at them." It is unfortunate that such incidents are happening in Balochistan to sabotage the peace efforts of the provincial government and initiation of development activities in the province.” The province is already lagging behind in development due to worsening law and order situation and such incidents would further aggravate the situation, the statement stated.

The meeting offered condolences with the families of the deceased workers and demanded the government to arrest the culprits without wasting any time and provide appropriate compensation to the victims’ families. The Committee formed three sub-committees. The first committee would review the existing labour laws and the legislation process in each province, the second committee would review the situation of health and safety at work places and third committee would review the performance of labour welfare organizations like Employees Old age Benefit Institution (EOBI), Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI) and Workers Welfare Board (WWF). The Committee was informed that after the Sindh Labour Conference, the Chief Minister of Balochistan had agreed to hold a tripartite Labour Conference and it is hoped that the conference would be held in Quetta by next month. Similar tripartite labour conferences should be held in each province before legislation of labour laws.

The participants felt the need for holding such labour conferences in other three provinces and also at the federal level.

The meeting was chaired by senior trade union leader Habibuddin Junaidi and conducted by Karamat Ali of PILER. Prominent among those who also attended the meeting included Shafeeq Ghauri, Rehana Yasmeen, Zafar Abbas, Shaukat Ali, Jannat Hussain Rehan Shah, Mirza Maqsood Hussain, Shakeela Asghar.