Plight of PIA employees

The govt should ensure that we are granted the 20 per cent pay raise that other government employees have enjoyed.

LAHORE: One area in which it is difficult to fault the PPP government is the way it has treated government employees. It has increased the minimum wage from Rs3,000 to Rs8,000 per month. It has granted a 100 per cent increase in salaries across the board for all government employees. If we include the recently announced 20 per cent increment in the federal budget, the percentage salary increase actually goes up to 120 per cent.

PIA is an organisation owned by the federal government. In a bizarre twist of affairs, its employees have been denied the salary increases, which were given to employees of other government ministries and semi-government organisations. In the last four-and-a-half years, we, the employees of PIA (including those belonging to the managerial cadre) have seen our salaries rise by just 20 per cent. We have not even been given the 20 per cent raise in salaries that other government employees got in the latest budget. In such a scenario, why do people expect the national flag carrier to deliver the best service possible when its employees are a highly demotivated and underpaid lot? How in the world can we give our best to the national flag carrier when we are treated so miserably and unfairly? The prices of all essential commodities, according to even government surveys, have gone up by 200 per cent in the last six years, with the result that PIA employees are now finding it impossible to make ends meet, not to mention the fact that our feeling of self-worth and self-esteem has hit rock-bottom. On the one hand, salaries and perks of PIA’s senior management have been considerably enhanced, but middle and lower level employees even in the managerial cadre have not been given the same treatment, despite the fact that many of us are well-qualified and hold masters degrees from reputable institutes.

In the past, PIA used to attract the best talent in the country and was able to retain it and keep it motivated because of its competitive salary structure and the career progression path it provided, which used to be one of the best in the country. Without ensuring that basic needs of employees (particularly those in the management cadre), no organisation, let alone the national flag carrier, can achieve its maximum potential.

I appeal to the prime minister to look into this matter on an urgent basis and at least ensure that we are granted the 20 per cent pay raise that other government employees have enjoyed as a result of the latest budget.

Sadia Anwer

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2012.