LAHORE: Thousands of workers of the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) have been deprived of their Eid bonuses despite the passage of two months, Pakistan Today learnt on Wednesday.
As per the details, LWMC had been paying bonuses to its employees, including staff members and sanitary workers, for performing their duties during Eid holidays. Like previous years, the company told its workers that the bonuses would be delivered to them within a week after Eid; however, sources told that the payments had still not been made.
They said that despite the passage of two months and LWMC chairman’s announcement, the company has failed to deliver the bonuses to any of its employees.
“LWMC has at least 12,000 employees. During Eid days, all staffers worked day and night without taking any leave,” they said and added that a large number of employees were from other cities but they preferred to stay in Lahore to perform their duties during the holidays.
“Performing duties on Eidul Azha was a difficult task for various reasons. The toughest of all was the weather in August while the company was also going through a financial crisis,” they said, adding that LWMC’s Eid cleanup operation was up-to-the-mark and it was only because of its workers’ dedication.
“This year, LWMC collected and disposed of some 48,500 tons of waste during three days of Eid which is an all-time record,” said sources and continued that the delay in bonuses had left workers demoralised, specifically sanitary workers, most of whom are not that financially stable.
To a question, sources said that the total estimated amount of the bonuses was around Rs100 million.
LWMC spokesperson Jamil Khawar, while speaking to Pakistan Today, said that there was no change in the company’s policy regarding bonus payments.
He said that the matter was only pending due to the board of directors’ decision.
“Initially it was decided that the amount would be released to all staff members after the formation of the new board of directors but now the company has decided to seek permission from the new board prior to releasing bonuses,” he said and added that the company would soon make the pending payments.
