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Written by PTUDC
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
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May Day in Pakistan saw rallies, meetings and seminars the length and
breadth of the country, where the PTUDC, the BNT, YFIS-Pakistan, the comrades
of The Struggle and many other youth and trade union organisations
participating with a militant and determined mood.
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Written by PTUDC
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
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We received this appeal from the temporary,
"daily wage", workers in the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority. They have been
working there for years but can be sacked at a moment's notice.
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Written by Zafar Imam
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Monday, 10 March 2008 |
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We received this report with some delay, but we believe it
is important as it shows how the PTUDC is sinking roots inside the labour
movement in this important part of the Sindh region, gaining the support of 19
trade unions.
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Written by Haider Chughtai
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Tuesday, 23 October 2007 |
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Both permanent and
temporary workers at Unilever in Pakistan have come under attack from the
bosses, who would like to change their status to contract workers, thereby
avoiding the payment of medical and other benefits. In defence of their jobs
and livelihoods the workers have launched a struggle and called for union
solidarity.
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Written by Haider Chughtai (PTUDC Rahim Yar Khan)
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Wednesday, 03 October 2007 |
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We often hear of the brutal conditions that workers have to suffer in
underdeveloped countries. Here we have an example of a famous multinational,
Unilever, which is making huge profits while paying starvation wages and using
draconian measures when the workers dare to protest. Send messages of protest
and let these workers know they are not alone.
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Written by PTUDC
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Monday, 10 September 2007 |
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On September 7,
the South Punjab Labour
Conference was held in Multan with many delegates from workplaces and workers’
leaders present. The conference was organised by the Multan Joint Action
Committee and the purpose of the gathering was to unite all the various
struggles of the Pakistani workers on one platform.
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Written by PTUDC Lahore
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Thursday, 03 May 2007 |
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Punjab schoolteachers have launched a struggle in
defence of their rights and for improved working conditions. The Punjab government has not paid the allowances announced
in the last budget and are now planning to privatise the schools which were put
under state control by the Bhutto government in the 1970s.
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Written by PTUDC Lahore
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Wednesday, 02 May 2007 |
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After the successful
mobilisation of stationmasters at Pakistan Railways, the signal staff have
taken action for the improvement of their working conditions. Monstrously
exploited, and working according to pay scales which have not changed since
1974, the workers are organising to struggle for their rights.
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Written by Adam Pal, in Kot Addu
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Friday, 13 April 2007 |
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The workers of Taunsa
Barrage upheld their end of the bargain. They agreed to return to work on the
promise that all of their demands would be met within 48 hours. Not only have
management not met these demands, they have hired thugs to threaten the workers
and PTUDC activists.
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Written by PTUDC
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Thursday, 12 April 2007 |
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The
Pakistan
Trade Union Defence Campaign Multan
held a meeting yesterday
in solidarity with the Airbus workers.
Participants
were informed about the struggle of Airbus workers in France and
other European countries, and discussed the campaign demanding the
nationalisation of the company.
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Written by PTUDC
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Wednesday, 11 April 2007 |
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The workers of the Taunsa Bridge
have won an important victory in their struggle for payment of wage arrears and
improved working conditions. Most of their demands have been met, and the rest
will be fulfilled within 48 hours.
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Written by PTUDC
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Tuesday, 10 April 2007 |
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A
bitter strike has erupted at the Taunsa Barrage in Pakistan, as workers are demanding
payment of wage arrears and better working conditions. One worker, whose wife
was in hospital delivering a child, was beaten when he asked for payment of his
wages to pay for proper medical care. His wife ended up dying in hospital due
to lack of funds to pay for care.
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Written by PTUDC
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Friday, 09 March 2007 |
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The
state in Kashmir has shown its true colors by increasing repression on comrades
arrested yesterday when they were protesting for the basic demands of the
peoples of Kashmir.
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Written by PTUDC
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Thursday, 08 March 2007 |
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A
demonstration was called today to protest against the failure of the state’s
reconstruction efforts in Azad Kashmir. The demonstration was brutally attacked
by police. Several comrades have been injured and arrested.
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Written by Khalid Baber
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Friday, 23 February 2007 |
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The Pakistani government has absolutely failed
in its efforts to clean up and repair the damage caused in Kashmir
by the earthquake in October 2005. The
people of Kashmir cannot accept this situation
any longer and the government has nothing real to offer the movement, except
more promises.
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Written by Yasir
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Friday, 23 February 2007 |
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After waiting for more than a year for the
government to act on the promises it made at the time of the earthquake
disaster, the workers have finally lost their patience and come out in an
all-out strike. This is just a taste of what is to come.
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Written by Sheikh Majeed
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Thursday, 18 January 2007 |
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The
Pakistani state attacks the workers once more, this time at Pakistan International Airlines.
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Written by Anti Labor Laws Workers Action Committee
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Wednesday, 10 January 2007 |
 The All-Pakistan Labour
Conference was held in Rawalpindi on December
19, 2006, bringing together some 500 delegates from unions and workers'
associations from all across Pakistan.
The goal of the conference was to unite the working class under one banner and
to offer a solution to the problems and misery of the people in the struggle
for socialism.
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Written by Manzoor Razi
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Wednesday, 06 December 2006 |
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The All-Pakistan Loco Running Staff Association of Pakistan Railways
announced on November 21 that its workers would not transport any passengers or
goods according to the law on work to rule because the company has not provided
the required safety facilities or filled the necessary requirements of the
government.
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Written by Haseeb Ahmed
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Tuesday, 28 November 2006 |
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A successful conference
organised jointly by the PTUDC and the Sindh Employees Alliance was held in
Karachi on November 25. The event was held in protest at the banning of trade
union in education, against the Labour Unions and Industrial Relations
Ordinance (IRO) 2002 and to work towards unity of all sectors concerned.
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Written by PTUDC
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Tuesday, 17 October 2006 |
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The
Sind Employees’ Alliance,
a joint body of teachers’ organizations, which has been involved in a long
struggle for the right to represent teachers, has officially offered its
unconditional support for the PTUDC.
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Written by PTUDC
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Friday, 29 September 2006 |
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Marxist MP and president of the PTUDC, Manzoor Ahmed, recently held a
press conference where he announced the launching of a struggle against
the Musharraf government's draconian changes to Pakistan's labour laws.
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Written by Janat Hussain
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Wednesday, 13 September 2006 |
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Despite
facing threats and state repression the teachers are determined to continue the
fight against the ban on their union. The teachers have decided to observe
September 15 as a “black day”, when the teachers all across Sindh will hold
rallies and protests at their respective schools and colleges.
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Written by PTUDC
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Friday, 25 August 2006 |
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The
struggle against the ban on the Sindh Teachers' Union
continues while repression by the state increases. Today all the teacher's
unions observed a "black day" across Sindh with a complete shut-down of all
schools and colleges. Student unions also supported this boycott and
participated in the struggle against the privatisation of education.
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Written by Saqlain Shah
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Wednesday, 23 August 2006 |
 On a
peaceful morning 2,000 teachers of the Sindh Employees Alliance, in which all
the unions of teachers are united, gathered in front of the Karachi Press Club. They were
holding banners and placards condemning the ban on teachers' unions and against
the privatisation of schools and colleges. When the rally moved forward towards
the chief ministers' residence they were encircled by the notorious Sindh
police, which started to baton-charge and use other repressive measures.
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Written by Adam Pal
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Tuesday, 22 August 2006 |
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All the teachers' unions of Sindh decided to hold a
sit-in in front of the Chief Minister house on 22nd August as a protest against the ban on the Sindh Teachers' Union. General Musharraf and his toadies decided to crush the protest and
started arresting teachers the night before the protest. Thousands of teachers
were arrested across the Sindh province and were thrown into jail.
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Written by PTUDC
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Saturday, 15 October 2005 |
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PTUDC comrades in the small town of Wah Cantt arranged a meeting to speak to an audience of unionists, women, and youth
about the real nature of the current war.
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Written by PTUDC
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Thursday, 24 June 2004 |
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A group of Left PPP MPs, among them Manzoor Ahmed, the
President of the PTUDC, have presented a bill with amendments to the
draconian anti-working class IRO-2002. Among these is the call for the
right to strike of workers of public utility services to be restored and
labour courts to be empowered to reinstate sacked workers in their
services with all benefits and facilities.
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Written by PTUDC
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Sunday, 11 May 2003 |
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The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign's (PTUDC) national bureau announced
before May Day that this year it would be celebrated in Pakistan as a "day of
collective struggle of the working class against capitalism" and a "day of
struggle for socialist revolution in Pakistan". On this basis May Day was
celebrated all over the country with the same agenda. Here we are publishing
reports of the main events held in different cities around Pakistan.
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Written by PTUDC
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Thursday, 10 April 2003 |
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On March 24 the PTUDC held a meeting in
Lahore, which was attended by more than 300 PTUDC leaders and members who came
from all over the country.
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Written by PTUDC
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Wednesday, 19 March 2003 |
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We have received this report from the Pakistan Trade Union
Defence Campaign (PTUDC) on the terrible conditions faced by one of the most
downtrodden sectors, the agricultural labourers. The PTUDC is taking a
courageous stand in their campaign to organise them into a union.
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Written by PTUDC
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Thursday, 13 February 2003 |
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Written by PTUDC
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Tuesday, 14 January 2003 |
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Based on his speeches during his recent tour
of Britain.
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Written by PTUDC
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Thursday, 18 July 2002 |
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This is a report of the meeting held in Lahore to celebrate the
release of Hameed Khan and the striking civil secretariat workers in Quetta.
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Written by PTUDC
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Sunday, 30 June 2002 |
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Report of the meeting held in Karachi to celebrate the release
of the striking Quetta civil secretariat workers. Strike leader Hameed Khan received a
standing ovation and thanked everyone who supported the PTUDC campaign, in Pakistan and
internationally. Report by Sheikh Mohyuddin.
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Written by PTUDC
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Sunday, 23 June 2002 |
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They were released in the late hours of Friday, June 21 after
two months of imprisonment in Quetta's central jail. All the workers have been released
unconditionally and the cases against them have been withdrawn. This shows that even in
most difficult of objective conditions battles of the class struggle can be fought and
won. Report by Lal Khan, PTUDC International Secretary.
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Written by PTUDC
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Thursday, 06 June 2002 |
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The strike movement in Quetta has taken a dramatic new turn in
the last couple of days. A general strike on Wednesday brought the whole city of Quetta to
a standstill. This struggle has now entered a delicate and decisive phase. By Lal Khan,
the International Secretary of the PTUDC.
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Written by PTUDC
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Monday, 20 May 2002 |
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This is an update on the situation in Quetta. The leaders of the
civil servants' strike are still in jail, and more layers of workers are moving into
struggle.
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Written by PTUDC
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Tuesday, 14 May 2002 |
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Nazar Mengal, a leading PTUDC activist, is playing a key role in
the present strike movement in Baluchistan. The authorities have moved him to a remote
village and issued him with a show-cause notice. After the brutal repression of the civil
secretariat strike the state does not want retaliation from elsewhere in Baluchistan, and
they are targetting the PTUDC in particular.
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Written by PTUDC
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Friday, 10 May 2002 |
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Today a protest demonstration was held in the city of Kasur in
the East of Pakistan, to protest against the continuing imprisonment of the Quetta strike
leaders, and the government's sacking of the 1,125 public sector workers who are on
strike.
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Written by PTUDC
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Tuesday, 07 May 2002 |
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Here we present three letters, written by Mikhail Doronenko from
the Russian section of the PTUDC, and sent to Pakistani President Musharraf, the federal
interior minister, and the governor of Buluchistan. In Pakistan the PTUDC has stepped up
its nationwide activity. However, international pressure has proved in the past to be
decisive in getting the release of jailed trade unionists. We believe these to be model
letters, and we encourage all our readers to follow this example.
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Written by PTUDC
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Sunday, 05 May 2002 |
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PTUDC Lahore today held a protest demonstration after the
government announced the sacking of 1,125 striking government workers in Quetta. The PTUDC
demands the release of those jailed, the reinstatement of all workers fired, and for the
workers demands to be met. A message from jailed leader Hameed Khan was read out.
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Written by PTUDC
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Sunday, 05 May 2002 |
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Written by PTUDC
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Friday, 03 May 2002 |
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This is the report from the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign
on the May Day activities that took place up and down the country. The main rallying
slogan was for the release of the imprisoned strike leaders in Quetta, where Hameed Khan
and around 150 others are still in jail, and that the only way out for the masses of
Pakistan is the road of socialist revolution. The day was a great success.
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Written by PTUDC
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Friday, 26 April 2002 |
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This is the PTUDC's May Day leaflet, which the PTUDC has
produced along with posters which will be flyposted throughout the country. The strike in
Quetta continues, and there will be protests, demonstrations and rallies throughout
Pakistan.
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Written by PTUDC
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Thursday, 25 April 2002 |
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Here is a short update on the situation in Quetta. The Civil
Secretariat workers' protests are continuing, and there was also a demonstration of
teachers today.
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Written by PTUDC
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Tuesday, 23 April 2002 |
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The strike of public sector workers in Quetta, Baluchistan
continues. Here are two articles that appeared in today's Dawn, the leading English
language daily newspaper in Pakistan, followed by a short piece about the background to
the strike. We thank everbody who has already sent in messages of solidarity and
donations.
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