WAPDA workers stage a demonstration against possible privatisation at FESCO HQ. PHOTO: ONLINE
Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) workers stepped up their campaign against privatisation of the company on Monday staging protests at the company’s headquarters and its Jhang Circle office.
They observed a pen-down strike and locked out the FESCO headquarters.
They staged a protest sit-in at FESCO headquarters on Canal Road and blocked the road for traffic for several hours.
They carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans saying, “Privatisation amounts to treason,” “Anti-worker policies are unacceptable,” “Bring down anti-worker government,” “Go Nawaz Go”, “Won’t allow FESCO privatisation” etc.
All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union general secretary Khursheed Ahmad said the government had ignored their protests for too long.
“They have turned a deaf ear to our demands. No government representative has bothered to meet us to hear our concerns,” he said.
He said the apathy attitude showed that the government had no sympathy for workers.
He said of the eight distribution companies, the FESCO was the most profitable. He said it made no sense to sell off a company that was performing well.
“FESCO workers have concerns and questions,” he said. “Who will answer them? Who do we talk to?”
All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union regional chairman Rana Ghulam Jaffar said the government had planned to privatise the FESCO under pressure from the IMF.
He said thousands of workers would be laid off if the plans well through.
He said FESCO workers must not allow unilateral privatisation.
“Some of us have worked with the company for long years,” he said. “Does that count for nothing?”
Also on Monday, employees of FESCO Jhang Circle went on a four-day pen-down.
The staged a protest rally and locked out Jhang circle offices. They announced that their protest would continue till Thursday.
They marched on various city roads leading to Faisalabad where they joined the main demonstration in front of the FESCO headquarters.
APWHEWLU Jhang chairman Malik Noorul Hasan the FESCO workers would protest every day in front of the headquarters till the government was ready to hear their demands.
He said thousands of employees had been mobilised to protest privatisation.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2015.
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