LAHORE – Two protests were held by different sections of the Pakistan Railways (PR) on Saturday. The PR Workers’ Union held their protest at the Railway Station. Around 250 to 300 people participated in the protest. Union General Secretary Zafar Ijaz Malik said that downsizing of the PR be stopped immediately and number of officers lessened.
“Problems are happening because there are too many higher officials and they are being paid too much for not doing anything. For this reason we also demanded immediate cessation of PRACS and Railcop, which are redundant organisations and only cashing money and not doing anything for benefit of the PR”, he said.
Malik said that there were occasional debates of ‘restructuring’ and ‘reorganisation’ of PR, but this meant downsizing and if employees were laid-off and in any case the sector was privatised, they would hold a wheel-jam strike and protests until the government relented.
Separately, a motorcycle rally from the Railways Workshops to the Lahore Press Club was organised by workshop unions led by the National Trade Union Federation. Workers protested against privatisation and demanded that instead of importing raw materials, officials should utilise workshops in the country and make use of them.
They also questioned that if old engines and tracks were not being maintained and the PR was short of funds, then what was use of establishing new dry ports such as Prem Nagar. Instead, they said, engines already in use be prioritised and tracks well maintained. Yousaf Baloch, central chairman of the workers union told Pakistan Today that a large number of union workers gathered at the National Trade Union Federation and protested against a number of issues.
The largest participant was the Railway Workers’ Union (Collective Bargaining Agent-Workshop), Rustam Sorab Motorcycle and Cycle Factory Workers’ Union, Iftikhar Labour Union (carpet industry), Pakistan Butta Mazdoor Union, all of which were led by Yousaf Baloch, Fareed Awan, Mustansar Javed, General Secretary Riaz Khan and Mehmood Butt of the Butta Mazdoor Union.
He said that they had demanded that following the Quaid-e-Azam’s statement in 1948, that no public service department be privatised, including Telegraph, Postal Office, Railways, PTCL and WAPDA, they would resist privatisation. He said that salaries be raised, as inflation is sky-rocketing. They also protested against dividing trade unions through various policies such as the IRA.
Manzoor Ahmed Razi, national chairman of the Railways Union said that protests were not just limited to Lahore. “They have taken place on Saturday from Karachi to Peshawar. Our demands are that there should be one minister for railways only, while not one of the 80,000 employees be fired. Corruption should be brought to book while redundant officers be removed.
The PR needs help and aid in order to make it an efficient and viable sector. More than anything else, privatisation will not be tolerated by union and workers,” he said.
