Clarifying its position over a news item published in Pakistan Today on May 30, the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has claimed that the dialogue with its labour union was discontinued due to the union’s persistence with violence and unlawful tactics, as the KESC believes that dialogue is the only way to resolve issues.
The news item titled ‘KESC seeks prolonging tussle with its workers’ had claimed that it was in the best interest of the KESC to prolong the tussle between its management and its workers as the company’s power generating capacity reduces considerably during the summers. The KESC clarification stated, however, that it was not news but an unsubstantiated comment carrying far-fetched conspiracy theories. “The ‘sources’ were not only stating contrary to the facts and evident happenings, but also seeking some unhealthy angles to the whole situation by saying that the management did not want an early resolution to the issues.
The KESC has repeatedly said that issues have to be resolved through dialogue and not violence. The first and foremost interest of the power utility is to resolve the public issues concerning electricity supply, which was conveyed to the union team at the very outset of the dialogue. “The union office bearers also needed to have the same priority. However, the disruptive and sabotage activities did not stop during the three days of management-union talks, proving that the union was carrying out the violence to force talks into its favour, which eventually led to the discontinuation of the process of dialogue. The Pakistan Today item was not reflective of the facts but instead moved onto a non-credible conclusion that the [KESC] management had deliberately opted out of the talks.”
