Railway workers protest against forced dismissals

Union leader says stopping trains and strike not part of protest

KARACHI:

Eight major unions of railway workers and officers have formed an alliance against exploitation of railway employees, withholding of their pensions and forced dismissals and announced observance of ‘black days’ on July 25, 26 and 27, across the country.

A peaceful protest was staged under the auspices of the Workers Railway Alliance at all the offices and railway stations from Karachi to Peshawar on Saturday with workers and employees chanting slogans against the administration.

Black flags were hoisted on the engines of all in-bound trains, while employees also wore black armbands. In addition, black flags were also hoisted at railway stations and platforms.

Addressing the protesters at the City Station in Karachi, central leader of the Railway Workers Union, Muhammad Naseem Rao, said that the peaceful protest against the exploitation of railway workers would continue for three days.

He said the administration was taking a number of illegal steps, including withholding pensions of workers and forced dismissal of the employees. “We have submitted a list of our demands to the railway authorities,” he told the gathering.

“Some of our demands are related to the ministry of railways while some are related to the government of Pakistan which should be resolved immediately,” he said. “We have presented our demands to the top officials of the railways, which should be considered sympathetically,” he urged.

Rao said it was unfair to dismiss railway workers without any reason. However, he added: “Stopping the trains and going on strike is not part of our protest.”

The leader of the Railway Workers Union further said that at present their protest was peaceful and limited to a ‘black day’ but warned that the workers would be forced to adopt a tough strategy if their issues were not resolved. He added that another protest would be held at the City Station on Monday.

Addressing the protesters, Manzoor Mallah of the Railway Workers Union said: “Our problems should be solved immediately as railway workers are forced to starve.” He added that the workers would never accept anti-labour policies.

On this occasion, the other leaders of the railway employees’ unions announced that a large protest would be held at the Cantt Railway Workshop on the second day of ‘black day’ under the auspices of the Railway Workers Union on Sunday (today).