Protest surge: Employees take to streets to pressurise outgoing govt

Boycott duties and stage sit-ins.

ISLAMABAD:

As the government gears for an exit, the capital is witnessing an unusual number of protests by employees keen to get their demands approved ahead of the general election.

Thousands of employees have been regularised in the centre and provinces, while an onslaught by employees of Accountant General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) resulted in the government raising their salaries by 20% following a sit-in staged outside Pak Secretariat after the union locked the entrance to the building on Friday. This has had a snowball effect, motivating others to take to the streets.

Following the success of AGPR employees’ protest, workers of some of the attached departments of Pak Secretariat on Thursday protested near the secretariat. The attached departments include Pakistan Computer Bureau, Department of Civil Defensen and Communication Security. “The order for a raise in salaries for Pak Secretariat mentioned employees of the federal ministry and divisions but not attached departments,” said Manzar Masood, who works in communication security.



Non-teaching staff of schools and colleges under the Federal Directorate of Education have been protesting for time-scale promotions and education allowance outside the main building of their office for the past two days. Despite assurance by the Capital Administration and Development (CAD) secretary, they claimed that  they would not go back to work till they receive a notification. “I wonder what they were up to for the last five years,” said a CAD official, while receiving numerous applications for promotion.

Ex-employees working under Basic Community Schools have been protesting outside the National Press Club (NPC) for the last five days, holding banners and placards against their ‘abrupt ouster’.

Over 200 lower cadre employees of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) protested at the NPC and staged a sit-in at Jinnah Avenue. “I’ve been working as a gardener for 10 years, but I get a daily wage of Rs280,” said Raja Arslan, working in CDA’s Environment Directorate. Members of the ruling CDA union were seen persuading the protesters to call off the strike but they refused. Sanitation workers of Rawal Town Tehsil Administration are also protesting against the non-regularisation of their services.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2013.