Equal pay: Court employees go on two-day strike for salaries

Staff wants same three-fold increase given in other provinces

HYDERABAD: Work at the lower courts came to a standstill across the province on Friday after staff started to protest for fairer wages.

Court workers across several cities were following a call to agitate issued by the All Sindh Subordinate Judicial Staff Welfare Organisation. The strike will last two days.

The staff, which numbers about 5,000 in Sindh, claims that they are not being given the three-fold salary increment as was given to their peers in the other provinces. At their rallies on Friday they chanted, ‘Chief Justice, we want justice’ to press their point. After winning a case for a raise in the Sindh High Court in May 2011, the staff wants to take the issue up at the Supreme Court. The hearing is scheduled for January 18. While talking to The Express Tribune, the provincial president of the welfare organisation, Muhammad Chattan Rahimo, said that they would go on strike for two days every week until their demands are met.

According to the organisation’s Liaquat Mallah, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will be heading the bench. Advocate Rashid A Rizvi will represent the court staff, while Advocate Abdul Hafeez Pirzada will defend the Sindh government.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2012.