It required the personal intervention of Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wassan to lift the blockade of the Karachi Electric Supply Company’s (KESC) headquarters, which sacked labour union members had surrounded early in the day and prevented employees from leaving the end of the work day.
Wassan arrived at around 11 pm and was able to persuade the labour union to end their siege after promising them a meeting at the Governor’s House to discuss their grievances with the KESC management. While he was at the site, Wassan did not speak to any management personnel.
Initially, no one from the company came out of the office, fearing the union members who were armed with sticks. The 30 female employees were too scared to leave, so a union leader sent two policemen in saying that they should rest assured that no harm would come to them.
Labour union leaders insist they never took anybody hostage and that the women had always been free to leave. Yet the employees who were trapped inside say they were afraid to come out after the building was surrounded by men armed with sticks who told them that they would not be allowed to leave at the end of the day.
Soon after the labour union began its intimidation tactics, the KESC management announced that they would suspend all field operations until the government could guarantee the safety of its employees. The company claims that its employees have been harassed and prevented from doing their work “countless times” by the members of the labour union.
The company also said that union members had prevented its employees from accessing materials in its central stores in order to continue their repair work on the city’s power infrastructure.
Wassan’s actions follow an order he received from Sindh Governor Ishratul Ebad, who asked the home minister to protect the company’s employees.
“The power company demands security, which should be given to them without any delay,” said the governor.
When Wassan arrived at the scene, he was asked by the police not to go meet the labour union members but the home minister said that he had nothing to fear from them since they were his ‘own people’.
Around three police vans had arrived at the scene but there were around 200 policemen with 100 Rangers personnel. They stretched from the KESC office to the opening of the residential area behind it. The police were milling around but there was no violence. There were expectations of arrests for which prison vans (that can take up to 70 people) had been arranged.
After Manzoor Wassan left, Akhlaque Ahmed of the labour union made a speech to tell people about Wassan’s promises and what would be discussed at the meeting on Thursday.
“I will not only bring up the reinstatement of jobs but also an increase in their wages,” he told the crowd.
The dispute between the KESC and its labour union stems from a decision by the company to downsize its bloated workforce, a legacy of its days as a government-owned entity.
The KESC management has repeatedly offered severance packages to its employees, which were significantly higher than what it is legally mandated to give out.
Yet union members remain recalcitrant, insisting they
be retained at full salary and benefits despite the fact that the company has no need for them.
According to KESC customer service officials, the duration of each bout of power outage will be of three hours, instead of one.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2011.
COMMENTS (53)
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@Hostaged: I read some where that " Give bed name to dog and hang it" well done sir u give a verdict to hang these so called corrupt and inefficient workers . After this only clean and efficient persons will left in KESC .After this we will receive 24 hr electricity and every where river of honey and milk will flow . There is only one solution restore these workers and take KESC in government custody like other parts of pakistan
I was in there last night, so were many who have read this article and for unknown reasons not participated in the blogging... Khair, it was horrible, scary, shameful..... Just the other day a friend of mine told me the example of Reckit that of the 9 or so Businesses they operated, they have shifted almost all of them except for 1 or 2 just because of these sort of Labour miscreants....
@sars: i remember year 1997 to 1999 nawaz era and 2000 to 2004 musrhaf era .This slogan merit and expel the employee to safe the cooperation .Famous golden shake and force expel from ubl ,hbl ,ptcl , pia ( steel mill safe by SC ) and other cooperation and after this ruler produce these cooperation in plate to big fishes and now these big fishes earning billions and sending millions to them who favor . Yes Pay scale of KESC is higher then other department but all we know their duty hours and risk in their work . Yes their there is lot of corrupt and inefficient ( same ratio compere to other section of society ) people in it but you have improve this by check and balance and proper training after all they are also citizen of Pakistan and they build KESC since 30 years . Yes an another solution is their we gather these 45000 people and their families in ground and kill them other wise I assure you their is no other solution of this problem . please consider this problem on humanitarian ground . in many means i corrupt and inefficient can i deserve what God is giving to me off course not what should i object for other .
@perviaz memon:
Who're they???
the bottom line is if you are not a useful employee you can be terminated with due notice everywhere in the world.There is a need to upgrade your capabilities to become employable and retainable. The answer is not to run around with sticks and weapons.The KESC has offered packages of 24 to 80 months inflated salaries, invest it and find another job. Also GROW UP.The land of Pakistan needs people who are able to lead it forwards on merit as all instituations are slowly going to have to be reformed.No more nepotism and cronyism should be tolerated.
I suppose that members of the Sindh Provincial Assembly and the members of the national assembly - elected from Karachi do not live in the city. If they were living in Karachi, they would have ended the electricity crisis. If these people's representatives are not resolving the issues of those who voted for them, then what exactly is their job? The issue has become political - the KESC's problems are not the problems of the people. The people are paying their bills regularly - it is the KESC's job supply electricity should be perfect - there should be no low voltage and no fluctuation. Our public representatives should ensure this only they can do something - if they cannot, they should resign and let someone get elected in their place. It reflects badly on the elected representatives that there should be violence in Karachi because of the absence of electricity and inflated bills of the KESC.
finally govt wakes up i hope the problem gets solved today. it took 3 months for stakeholders to realize the problem of people
we need to remember this at the time of casting the vote of how much they care for people
Dear Readers;
I am observing all this situation for the last 2 to 3 months & as an outsider I think who is the ultimate victim of this whole situation, none other than general public of Karachi & also the image which we are trying to portray to theh whole world that we even can't resolve our internal issues & do not come to our place as we are the worest nation on this planet.
Lastly, I pray to Allah that give us wisdome to our people & government officials.
Thanks & regads,
people...people ...take it easy and please for God sake, stop asking the dead man "Government" to take action. It is time we started thinking and acting on our own. KESC issue can be tracked back to our habit of cursing the political elites who in turn break all hell loose to make sure that they are remembered and that nothing budge without their consent and approval. The more you hate them / blame them the more taller and stronger they become.
We are on our own so collaborate and make it happen. You have the power to change so lets do it ;)
i mean what kind of interior minister he is, these kinds of tactics further encourage this behavior. they have ruined khi due to thir appeasement dealings.
i know simple one thing any department will not survive in this world if it expel 45000 workers . people give reason that they are corrupt and inefficient this is swapping statement yes numbers of people in these are corrupt and inefficient as similar to PIA , Steel Mill , Banks etc . Why we not talk about these departments . In actual it is political issues one political party is running KESC Mr Tabis is front man and he is collect amount and distribute these amount to top boss also to a section of media . He also try to remove employee mostly belong to other ethnics groups and replace them by other ethnic group and other party so KESC fully under control and no matter which party have federal or provincial government they will rule kESC and with help of it they rule over city . This is call state within the state . this is last chance to save KESC after these they will have fully control of KESC
@themohajir: Your comment is uninvited and prejudiced. It is these thoughts and actions that carry a bad taste and give a bad name. Please refresh and rehabilitate your approach to life. Thank you. Salams.
How pathetic is it that 2000 union workers have made 12 million citizens of karachi miserable? How can any one support a Union that is only looking out for thier selfish agenda? Its been more than 2 months that the city of lights has been without consistent electricity. All at the hands of a few miscreants. The city has been plagued with power cuts, over loaded circuits, electrical appliances burning out due to a surge in voltage. What about the damage these people are causing to individuals living in this city. At the end of the day KESC is a private enterprise and they have the right to layoff anyone that is a financial burden to the company. The individuals in this Union should spend their time looking for another job rather than destroy jobs and lives of the citizens of this city. Dont they realize that due to thier actions other companies are shutting down because they just dont have the consistent electricty to continue thier business and thus cause job losses to other people in this city. What about the sleepless nights people are spending because they dont have any electricity? What have the poor citizens of Karachi done to deserve this Union.
This issue should be resolved by force.KESC being a private enterprise has the right to sack employes and the employes have already lost their cases in courts.. Now they are taking laws in hand.. Police should strictly take action against them.. Political parties back these groups and thats where the problem starts.. PPP and MQM..you are the root of all problems in karachi.. Leave it alone and let new leadership come!!!
My request to people is to wake up and stop voting for these parties again and again!! These are behind such protests, bhatta mafia, and are land grabbers..
a complete black out for 3 days wil change the government attitude forever till then nothing will happen let us support KESC management and condemn union workers
Do you want to know more? the peaceful unarmed union activists are not letting food inside for those trapped at the KESC head office.
And in another breaking news - the women who were promised a safe exit were forced off the police mobile and were made to walk in a line surrounded by hooting peaceful union folks to a nearby bus. They even dared the police to remove the truck blocking the exits... Of course the police just stood there - letting this humiliation go on...
Right now it's hard to imagine what the authorities want? perhaps meeting their bloodshed quota? ...
oh and thanks for the one sided coverage by the media. how about stepping inside and
bravo
Perceptions of some or all are... in favour and against, every one of us push agenda on our affiliations, that's the tragedy not only in this case, but practice through out the country. All of we are quick in imposing our thoughts and not allowing the real solution to the problem. Imagine one is in support of A party another is in support of B, but no one truly understand the case properly, factually, professionally and honestly, including my self. what my humble submission is that there is no quick fix and there is no kicking off A or B is to understand KESC as an organisation, imposing such fanatic and radical solutions can be extremely catastrophic, all we have to do is to evolve a strategy within the organisation. in which all the stakeholders must be on board otherwise it will never a permanent fix, slow and gradual change is need of the hour if still insist for a sprint, than prepare for exhaustion.
KESC Management/Labour issue can be resolved in 24 hours, provided if there is a will of the government to settle the issue.
The present management of the KESC has done a lot to improve the performance of the company. Before criticising the KESC one should not forget that is now a private entity. Privatization has always been followed by retrenchment of employees. The surplus employees inducted indiscriminately under political pressure have always been laid off after privatization. Did not the same thing happened in MCB, ABL, HBL and other big companies that were privatized?
I believe that it is inappropriate to force the KESC to take back employees that have become redundant after the restructuring of the company. The government must act as a facilitator and help find a permanent solution of the problem amicably.
It is very easy to criticize it is very difficult to suggest a solution. Maximising profits is the goal of all commercial organizations. If KESC seeks to maximize its profit there is nothing objectionable in it.
The strikers should not have forced their decision on other employees. They have taken the law in their hands. Their behaviour has largely been unruly. They have destroyed property and caused significant misery to the citizens of Karachi who have nothing to do with this dispute.
Strike is the right of the labour organizations but this should have been within the ambit of law. Beating fellow employees and destroying KESC property was illegal and unwarranted.
KESC doing well but some people are used to theft of electricity. This is the root cause to all this power problem in Karachi. We must understand if we just electricity without buying. how company will survive.
I just drove past sunset boulevard, these thUggish politically linked uniOn workers have big sticks in their hand literally and they were trying to jump the wall into the compound. They have blocked the area.
@Sam:
I suppose that happens but having on two occasions driven to the enarest transformer at the time of a power outage and seen the field ream working i stopped questioning them.
@Sham:
It already is denationalized my friend. the unions want it to be nationalized again.
the "peaceful" protesters are holding all the staff inside the head office hostage... police & co are just onlookers. maybe if ppl are killed today they will think about taking some action.
Even though I'm a firm believer in free-market system, KESC is incorrigible!! The only solution; De-nationalize it. Do it in the better spirit of the people of Karachi.
I support the power outage. the people of this city and the government alike need a strong jolt to wake them up from their slumbers....I can imagine that a week long power strike would really get the people out on the streets....I say lets get down to the bottom of this!!
Pakistan is the only country having political representations in commercial organisations. Such interferences cause nothing but trouble to the organisation and other stakeholders. Nice decision !
Its over for Karachi (as it would be for any other city) if there is no power.
Hello Pakistan Government, your most major metropolis will have no electricity if this happens. I personally think emergency needs to be declared in Karachi. This will not only make rallies illegal but also curtail issues such as weapons display etc.
High time we sort out the situation. Also doesn't one wonder why cities such as Lahore are so much more safer than Karachi? I am not a political person but the results do say a lot for Shahbaz Sharif compared to leaders here in Karachi.
Just gets better and better!! Is their a government in place? Is it functioning? Dosent KESC and its staff come under the essential services act? Unions can protest, but to be disruptive and cause misery to the people of the city is just not on!!
Unions should be abolished. they cause nothing but trouble. Instead of being fair representatives of the workers union members think themselves above the law. plus the role of political parties in union management destroys the entire concept.
@themohajir: No we do not!, and it won't be couple of days, it will be couple of weeks, months, years!
@themohajir
Only the Pathan labour unions are still protesting (because there political backers have not yet reached a deal with KESC) the ones backed by the mqm, ppp, and other parties have already pulled out after getting what they wanted (most likely money). This is information given to my by a senior KESC employee.
Also sir unless you are referring to people who were not born in Pakistan and migrated as refugees from other countries and do not consider this to be their homeland I would recommend you not use the term Mohajir as many people who are born and raised citizens of Pakistan would find the term very racist.
Union workers are disruptive no doubt but what about the KESC cars that roam around the night asking people for money to fix their electrical supply (which is their job to do in the first place, without asking for money)? This is going too far now! Everyone has their bloody agenda and we are suffering for it!
Union workers are disrupting no doubt but what about the fact that KESC cars roam around in the night and take money to fix the electrical supply (which is their job to do in the first place)? This is just going too far now!
Good Decision.
@themohajir people like you are drawing the lines in between communities.
Does the government realise what message it is conveying to potential investors: ? who will invest in this country?
Is this the cost that citizens are paying for democracy that there is lawlessness,traffic jams, power outages, inflation,?
Will the government wake up from its stupor now, it's high time that this issue was resolved. The government can't continue running with hare and hunting with the hounds forever.
the mohajir community supports this strike till demands r met let the city go without power for a couple of days no prob.
Mashallah.