Fiscal complications: Secretariat employees push for inclusion in provincial budget

Threaten indefinite strike beginning June 21 if their demands are not met.

PESHAWAR:

With the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) provincial budget to be presented within a week, Civil Secretariat Peshawar employees are seeking redresses for their long-standing demands.

On Tuesday, a meeting chaired by All-Pakistan Secretariat Employees Coordination Council (APSECC) Senior Vice President Muhammad Anwar Khan Banvi was held at the Civil Secretariat Peshawar. Ghulam Muhammad Tanoli, Jabbir Hussain Bangash, Abbas Khan and other provincial members of the council were in attendance. At the meeting it was decided that secretariat employees would observe a strike from June 21 unless their demands were addressed.

The secretariat’s employees under the APSECC’s K-P chapter are pushing to have their demands accommodated in the 2013-14 fiscal year.



“If salaries and allowances under various categories are not provided for in the upcoming provincial budget as per our demands, the APSECC will go on strike,” said Bavi, while talking to The Express Tribune.

On the other hand, Abbas Khan said a 16-point charter of demands had been presented to senior officials, adding the council met Finance Secretary Dr Waqar Masood on May 18 at the federal secretariat. Shedding light on some of their demands, Khan said employees wanted ad hoc allowances to be added to their salaries. “We also want an increase in our pay that corresponds to price hikes.”

“In the last three fiscal years adhoc relief has been extended to government employees without merging it with basic salaries,” explained Khan, adding this would be the fourth budget wherein salaries remained separated from additional relief if the council’s demands were not met.

According to official sources, the provincial budget is all set to be presented in the third week of June and the APSECC has reservations that secretariat employees may be overlooked again by higher-ups in the civil bureaucracy.

“We are ready to close the secretariat across the country on June 21 on the APSECC’s call. This will include the Jammu and Kashmir Secretariat as well,” a secretariat official said. He added there were plans to have a sit-in at the federal secretariat to highlight employees’ concerns. “Although the (employees’) demands are termed genuine by higher-ups, they are never given any attention.”

Other demands of the APSECC include salary structure and benefits at par with employees of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, as well as an increase in conveyance allowance to Rs5,000 for employees up to grade 15. In case of a secretariat worker’s death, full pension should be given to the person nominated to receive the amount as opposed to the 50% currently awarded.

However, a secretariat official revealed APSECC has been unable to push its demands through even after ostensibly fighting for several years as there are internal differences and a lack of common purpose in the council.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2013.