Hunger strike: Former employees of fertiliser company demand unpaid dues

SUKKUR:

Scores of former employees of the Fauji Fertiliser Company (FFC) observed a token hunger strike in front of the Mirpur Mathelo Press Club to protest against unpaid dues by the company.

The workers, carrying placards and banners, led by the FFC Packing and Loading Mazdoor Union’s general secretary, Abdul Haq Khatiyan, alleged that the FFC was refusing to pay the dues to its former employees who were offered the golden hand shake in 2002.



After taking over the charge, the new management had offered the golden hand shake to around 450 employees but paid them only a fraction of the amount promised, Khatyan claimed. The workers had filed a petition in court and despite clear orders to make the actual payments, the FFC management was refusing to pay up.

Meanwhile, FFC’s administration executive, Major Tariq, told The Express Tribune that the golden hand shake was availed by 416 employees. These employees were paid the amount in accordance with the agreement, he claimed.

FFC legal adviser Azhar Shah said that the privatisation was conducted by the Privatisation Commission and the NFC and that the company had nothing to do with the matter. “If their rights were usurped by the FFC, they should have started a protest the very next day, not after five or six years,” he remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2013.