'Retaliatory' police action against trade union leader condemned

Human rights activists and labour leaders on Thursday strongly condemned what they termed retaliatory police actions against genuine workers' representatives, allegedly carried out at the behest of factory owners, calling them a blatant violation of the Constitution and labour laws.

Addressing a press conference organised by the National Trade Union Federation Pakistan (NTUF) at the Karachi Press Club, speakers demanded the immediate withdrawal of what they described as a "shameful and fabricated" terrorism case against a labour leader.

Representatives of various political, social rights organisations, lawyers said that industrialists have systematically deprived workers of their fundamental rights. They alleged that unionisation and collective bargaining in factories and industrial units are virtually non-existent, while government-notified minimum wages are routinely ignored.

The speakers said that workers are not registered with social security or pension institutions, and the majority are employed without written appointment letters. Instead of the legally mandated eight-hour workday, workers are forced to work 12 to 14 hours without being paid double overtime wages. They cited as a "worst example" the alleged enforced disappearance, custodial torture and subsequent registration of a terrorism case against Comrade Iqbal Abro, a member of the Central Executive Committee of NTUF Pakistan They demanded the immediate withdrawal of all false cases against Comrade Iqbal Abro and his release.