Christmas without Santa: KMC’s Christian employees await their salaries
Robin Masih knows that this Christmas Eve will be the same as last year's.
KARACHI:
Robin Masih knows that this Christmas Eve will be the same as last year's.
The 'muqqadam' (supervisor) of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's sanitary workers remembered how their salaries were only released on the night of December 24 last year, when they were sure they would be celebrating Christmas on the streets.
"This year, Santa Claus will once again come empty-handed," he said. "Our children will once again be left without new clothes for the festival because getting paid at the last minute doesn't help us at all."
He added that the department was facing its worst financial crisis this year, leaving him and his fellow workers without any hope of receiving their wages. "Not only Christians but also the Muslim workers have not received last month's salaries, which were due on December 15," he revealed.
However, president of KMC's Collective Bargaining Agent union Syed Zulfiqar Shah was optimistic that the department would at least release the salaries of its Christian employees by December 23 or 24. "There are 7,200 such workers," he said. "We are still conducting meetings with senior officials about their salaries." He added that he had been assured by the KMC officials that the salaries would be paid by December 23.
"Last year, we declared that if we did not receive our wages, we would celebrate Christmas in front of the Karachi Press Club and then march towards the Chief Minister House without our shirts," Shah said. "But when this was published in the media, they gave us our salaries on Christmas Eve." He added that they would wait till Monday evening before announcing a plan of action.
He said that all the department employees had been affected by the financial crisis, with their children having to leave school and some workers even committing suicide. He further said that the employees of all six district municipal corporations had not been paid for the last month, while those in District South hadn't received their salaries in three months.
A KMC spokesperson said that the department would submit the salary cheques of the Christian employees on Monday and the workers would receive their wages on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2014.
Robin Masih knows that this Christmas Eve will be the same as last year's.
The 'muqqadam' (supervisor) of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's sanitary workers remembered how their salaries were only released on the night of December 24 last year, when they were sure they would be celebrating Christmas on the streets.
"This year, Santa Claus will once again come empty-handed," he said. "Our children will once again be left without new clothes for the festival because getting paid at the last minute doesn't help us at all."
He added that the department was facing its worst financial crisis this year, leaving him and his fellow workers without any hope of receiving their wages. "Not only Christians but also the Muslim workers have not received last month's salaries, which were due on December 15," he revealed.
However, president of KMC's Collective Bargaining Agent union Syed Zulfiqar Shah was optimistic that the department would at least release the salaries of its Christian employees by December 23 or 24. "There are 7,200 such workers," he said. "We are still conducting meetings with senior officials about their salaries." He added that he had been assured by the KMC officials that the salaries would be paid by December 23.
"Last year, we declared that if we did not receive our wages, we would celebrate Christmas in front of the Karachi Press Club and then march towards the Chief Minister House without our shirts," Shah said. "But when this was published in the media, they gave us our salaries on Christmas Eve." He added that they would wait till Monday evening before announcing a plan of action.
He said that all the department employees had been affected by the financial crisis, with their children having to leave school and some workers even committing suicide. He further said that the employees of all six district municipal corporations had not been paid for the last month, while those in District South hadn't received their salaries in three months.
A KMC spokesperson said that the department would submit the salary cheques of the Christian employees on Monday and the workers would receive their wages on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2014.