Bulletin
number 3
July 96
Trade union repression at the Thatta Cement Factory
Union
Defence Campaign has received a report from the PTUDC in
The
victimised trade unionists are: Farooq Asghar Shah, general secretary; Mohammad
Khan Ahmedani, office secretary; Pannah Baluch, joint secretary and Hayar Jat,
information secretary. The four trade unionists were latter released but
these
arrests show the desperate levels the bosses have now stooped to. This
represents yet another attack on the trade union movement in
This is not
the first attack of the management against the union. The organiser of the
Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign in
The reason
is that he had written an article in the labour movement paper The Struggle
denouncing corruption of the factory management. This is an attack against him
because he had been struggling consistently against privatisation. The
Pakistani government wants to sell nationalised companies to capitalists.
Workers
have been continuously struggling against the privatisation of this cement
factory. The government tried to privatise it three times but failed to do so
because of workers united opposition. Workers in this factory have witnessed
the miserable life facing workers in nearby factories which have been
privatised like Thata Sugar Mills and PVC Gharu.
These
nationalised factories were highly profitable for the state. But due to
corruption, after their privatisation they had massive “losses”, and this was
used as an excuse for their closure by the private owners, forcing their workers
into unemployment, which is already a huge problem.
As a result
workers are organising around the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign against
privatisation. Sooner or later, the workers will make these private capitalists
accountable for their looting of state property.
The
chairman of the Punjab Labour Federation and PTUDC activist in
We appeal
to all trade union, Labour Party and Young Labour branches to pass resolutions
protesting against this attack on basic trade union rights and supporting the
Thatta Cement Employees Union. Donations to cover legal costs of the campaign
are also welcomed.
Hafeez
Uqaily
---------------
PTUDC
launched
in
Qamar-u-Zaman
Khan reports.
Pakistani
workers, with all their glorious traditions of struggle and resistance against
oppression are faced by a very difficult situation. Increased exploitation by
the advanced capitalist countries of the
Against
this repression the unions can only rely on their own strength and
organisation. Labour Courts and laws are useless for the purpose of defending
the trade union movement. It is for this reason that a number of trade
unionists decided to create in
The main
aims of the Campaign are:
1.- To
organise resistance against the oppression of employers and the state, and to
defend workers facing sackings, jailing and other attacks.
2.- To
organise the struggle to stop privatisation of publicly-owned companies.
3.-
Abolition of contract labour, the right to hire and fire, bonded labour and all
the anti trade union laws (especially ESMA Act 1952, on the right to hire and
fire, and the Export Processing Zone Authority Acts of 1980 and 1982).
4.- To
develop links between the trade union movement and workers in
5.- To
organise struggle for the right to strike, to free education, decent housing
and transport, health care and other basic rights.
6.-
Abolition of child labour and women’s oppression linked with the transformation
of society which allows it to happen.
The
following trade union leaders were elected as a provisional committee of the
Campaign:
Chairman:
Abdul Maroof Azad, Gen. sec. PMG Offices (postal) Workers Union,
Vice-Chairman:
Usman Baluch, Muttehidda Labour Federation and
General
Secretary: Shahida Jabeen, Gen.sec. PPP Women’s Wing
Information
Secretary: Javed Bhatti, joint sec. Paramedical Staff Union,
Treasurer:
Ilyas Amin,
Baluchistan
organiser: Abdul Nazar Mengal, vice president National Organisation of Postal
Employees
North West
Frontier Province organiser: Fazal Qadir Shanvari, Gen. sec. Railway Workers
Union Peshawar
Kashmir
organiser: Arshad Khan, WAPDA Union
Holland
organiser: Amir Abdullah Niazi, exec committee FNV (KLM) Union Schiphol
Airport, Amsterdam.
Belgium
organiser: Rana Sikander Ali
Germany
organiser: Sheikh Uqail Kashif
UK
Secretary: Imran Ali.
To contact
the PTUDC in Pakistan:
Gardee
Trust Building
Thoronton
Road
Lahore
Phone: 00
92 42 723 52 06
and:
Punjab
Labour Federation
PO Box 840
GPO
Lahore
---------------
Pakistan’s
budget 1996/7
Shortly
before the budget debate in the Parliament, Mr V. A. Jaffery, Primer Minister’s
Financial Advisor, had a meeting with IMF officials to discuss the terms and
conditions of the IMF loans and their repayments. The IMF is also pressing to
impose higher taxes in some sectors (more than 41 million rupees in new taxes
have been passed) and give tax relief to multinationals and foreign investors.
When Mr Jaffery came out of the meeting he faced a lot of questions from
journalists. But his answer was clear: “we are going to satisfy the IMF, not
you” (The News, Lahore, 26/5/96)
The
economic and social situation in Pakistan is already bad enough for the
millions of workers and peasants. Lack of education, health care, basic
infrastructures, pollution, lack of drinkable water supply (which only reaches
22% of the population), sewerage and rubbish collection, etc. But the IMF is
pressurising Pakistan to introduce even more cuts, privatise more publicly
owned companies and pay more money back in repayment of loans.
This budget
only allocates to the basic services 18% of the GDP. Education only represents
a mere 2% and health care 1% (in a country were 165,000 women a year die at
childbirth). These figures are even more terrible when you consider that this
means a total expenditure of 25p per year in every children in education.
In order to
have an idea of the distribution of the expenditure in the budget let’s have a
look at the following figures:
• repayment
of loans and interests of loans—186 billion rupees
• defence
and army expenditure—135 billion rupees
• other
state expenditure— 70 billion rupees
Despite the
enormous amount of money allocated to pay loans and interest of loans, it is
virtually impossible for Pakistan to pay them back. The total foreign debt
amounts to $31.5 billion, and to this figure 800 billion rupees of internal
loans should be added. This is used by the IMF in order to try and dictate the
country’s economic policies. For example the IMF is demanding a greater share
of the revenue of privatisation, which amounts to 42 billion rupees.
All this
figures shouldn’t make us draw the conclusion that there is no money. As we
have seen most of it goes to the payment of the debt and the army. But there is
also the black economy which amounts to $56 billion, the same as the official
GDP. Another 124 billion rupees are “lost” every year due to tax evasion and 88
billion rupees in corruption. At the same time, already 64% of the economy is
under the control of multinational companies.
As it is
clear from all these figures the present budget will not solve any of the
problems facing the masses in Pakistan. On the contrary it will further
aggravate them. The other obvious conclusion is that only putting all the
resources of the economy under the democratic control of the whole of the
population could these problems start to be solved. Only by expropriating the
big business and feudal landlords, cancelling the external debt and using all
these enormous resources to work in the benefit of the majority of the
population can we put and end to the nightmare the Pakistani workers and
oppressed masses are living in.
That is the
task the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign is committed to. And for that we
need the support and solidarity of the labour movement internationally.
Imran Ali,
UK secretary PTUDC
------------
PTUDC
activities
On 28th
February a public rally in Oldham was organised by the Pakistani community,
local trade unionists and Action Against
Racism, 45 people attended.
During 2nd
week of April Imran Ali, UK secretary of the campaign, addressed the National
Hazard Conference in Bradford. He explained the poor conditions of health and
safety at workplaces in Pakistan, the exploitation of women and child labour
and repression of the Trade Unions. He was greeted warmly and the appeal for
support and solidarity raised a collection of £55.
On 4th May,
we marched with Newcastle Upon Tyne May Day Rally. At the end Imran Ali
addressed the rally along with Michael Meacher, Labour Shadow Employment
Secretary and Margaret Prosser (TUC President). Imran explained the importance
of May Day celebration, demands of the
workers and the need for unity internationally. He also outlined the struggle
of Pakistan’s trade unionists on several fronts; against anti trade union laws,
women repression, assassinations and brutal bonded child labour. For better
health, education, housing, transport, jobs and social services. A collection
of £44 was made.
We made
representation to the Trades Councils Conference in May.
We also
attended a number of trade union conferences including the CPSA, PTC, CWU, GMB,
Bakers and UNISON. During 2nd week of May, our representative spoke to the CPSA
“Broad Left Rally” at Brighton. We received a lot of support and a collection
of £84.
We also got
tremendous support during PTC conference in Bournemouth in May. Imran Ali
addressed a “Broad Left Rally” and workers showed their warmest feelings. We
collected £164 during the conference event, and received support from a number
of delegates.
A motion
for affiliation to the campaign was presented to the GMB conference, being
moved by the London Central General APEX branch. Delegates heard of the
repression of trade unionists in Pakistan and noted with anger the denial of a
visa to Shahida Jabeen. The motion was referred to the CEC for more
information, but many GMB branches promised to support the campaign straight
away. At UNISON conference, the black
action group printed an article on the campaign in their newsletter which was
distributed to all delegates. The issues were raised with many union activists
during the conference. We also thank Hackney UNISON for affiliation to the
campaign, a special thanks to regional committee UNISON London and Jon Rogers
(Deputy Regional Convenor) for taking firm stand and passing the motion and
winning the support of the Europe and International Committee of UNISON in the
London Region.
The
struggle to raise this important international issue continues and we welcome
any support from Labour and trade union members and organisations.
M. Qavi
---------------
Shahida
Jabeen
speaking tour
On February
18 Shahida Jabeen, general secretary of the Pakistan Trade Union Defence
Campaign and general secretary of the PPP Women’s Wing, applied for third time
for a visa. She was going to come to Britain invited by several trade union
branches and Labour MPs, in order to speak at a series of meetings on the
difficult situation facing trade unionists in Pakistan. But the British High
Commission in Islamabad refused to give her a visa.
After
several MPs, MEPs and union branches wrote to the Home Office asking why she
had been denied a visa, the British authorities produced the Refusal of Entry
document. This document gives as reasons for the denial: her economic
circumstances in Pakistan (!!), that she didn’t know all the details of the
meetings she was going to attend and which unions were organising them (!!) and
last and most surprising that she “have previously been imprisoned in Pakistan
for her political activities”!! All these arguments, amongst others, were used
as to draw the conclusion that “a visit to the United Kingdom is not all that
you intend”.
In relation
to her economic circumstances, she visited Britain 8 years ago without any
problem despite her circumstances being the same. The Pakistan Trade Union
Defence Campaign is sponsored by nearly 100 trade union or Labour Party
organisations, MPs, MEPs, etc. and therefore has got the resources to sponsor
her visit. Furthermore Shahida did have an invitation letter from one of the
trade union activists promising to cover all costs of her visit, which she
showed at the High Commission.
She was
repeatedly imprisoned for her political activities against the previous
military dictatorship, and her fight to restore democracy in Pakistan. At the
time of her previous visit to Britain, there was still a military regime in
Pakistan under which she had faced military court cases, imprisonment and
torture, but nevertheless she went back
to Pakistan at the end of her visit. Therefore, there is no reason to think she
would do otherwise now that there is democracy in Pakistan.
Therefore
the only reason we can think of for the denial of visa is that the British
authorities were not interested in the British trade union movement knowing
about the plight of trade union activists in Pakistan and their struggle
against privatisation, child labour, etc.
However we
will not let decide which speakers are suitable for the British labour
movement, and therefore we are planning to invite her again for a speaking tour
in the Autumn. In order to have a stronger case for her application we ask all
the sponsors of the campaign to write a letter of invitation. We have already
received invitation letters from some MPs and MEPs, but we need as many as
possible to make sure they cannot ban her again from addressing trade union
meetings in Britain.
Send all
letters of invitation to:
PTUDC
Shahida
Jabeen secretary
PO Box 6977
London N1
3JN