Agreement: Clerks’ association calls off strike

Govt agrees to meet pay raise, time scale promotion demands .

LAHORE: The All Pakistan Clerks Association Punjab Chapter Chairman has called off its strike and there will be no suspension of work from Monday, Haji Irshaad told The Express Tribune.

He said the decision was taken in view of a marathon session between the provincial government and the APCA Punjab chapter delegations that ended on Friday night with the government agreeing to most of APCA demands.

An official who was part of the government team said the agreement covered demands pertaining to salary raises and time scale promotions. He said the demand for regularisation of contract workers could not be met immediately. The demands met by the provincial government include: time scale promotion for all technical and non-technical staff in basic pay-scales (BPS) 5-16; five per cent raise in salaries of all clerical staff and a separate 50 per cent raise for Special Education Department employees in accordance with a 2010 budget notification; scale upgrade for the posts of junior clerk, senior clerk, assistant and superintendents; and increase in the minimum salary of Zakat and Usher Department staff from Rs9,000 to Rs12,000.

The meeting decided that more time was needed for regularisation of contract workers as the number of such workers across the province had yet to be determined.

Provincial government spokesperson Zaeem Qadri told The Tribune that while he was aware of some progress in negotiations, he was not aware of the exact details of the agreement.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2015.