Employees stage protest against new technology

Port activities come to a halt.

KARACHI: Employees of different cargo handling companies staged a protest at the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) on Monday, fearing massive lay-offs in the wake of latest technology being introduced at new terminals, a port official said.

The protest brought port activities to a halt, affecting cargo handling and industrial operations as vehicles could not enter or exit the port premises, he said.

PQA Director General Administration Shujaat Abbas, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that the protesters were not the employees of PQA and the protest has nothing to do with the PQA administration.

Abbas said that the salary problem of PQA employees has been resolved for which they protested and blocked the National Highway some time ago, adding that the Monday protest was staged by the employees of cargo handling companies who were demanding resolution of their problems.

PQA officials said that the protest was against an automated terminal that had recently been inaugurated as the workers believed that new technology would affect their jobs.

The employees and the automated terminal management were already contesting a case in a high court, which had asked them not to agitate on the matter, they said.

Port Qasim Association of Trade and Industry Patron-in-Chief Mian Muhammad Ahmed said port activities were badly affected because the entry point of the Port Qasim was completely blocked.

Thousands of employees of industries and port terminals were stranded owing to the blockade of road leading to the Port Qasim that links the National Highway, Ahmed said, adding such activities would affect business and discourage investment in the industrial area.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2011.