LAHORE — Ten labour leaders have been charged with breaching the peace, sedition and making provocative speeches against the military government. The police charges against them follow a public meeting held on October 18 by Rail Mazdoor Itehad (Rail Workers' Unity), an alliance of all the main unions at railway workshops) to protest price hikes, unemployment, privatisation and retrenchment of workers.
The previous day the railways management had called the four main railway labour leaders to a negotiating meeting at the divisional superintendent workshops. When the union leaders arrived at the workshops, they found a large police presence. At the negotiation table the management side consisted mainly of serving military officials, who repeatedly asked the labour leaders to call off the scheduled public meeting.
The negotiations went on until 11 pm. The labour leaders insisted on the cancellation of austerity measures that are part of the rail administration's "restructuring plan", plus cancellation of transfer orders given to the two main rail workers' leaders. No agreement was reached.
Under the restructuring plan military discipline has been imposed in the railway workshops. Over time has been reduced. The number of rail travel concession passes for the workers have been reduce and there has been no wage increase for the last four years. Union leaders have been transferred to far-off places as a punishment for their union activity. In Rawalpindi, one workers' leader has had his employment while nine others been suspended from jobs for union activities.
The next day's public meeting was to be held at lunch time in a workers' rest shed. However, all the main rest sheds were occupied by hundreds of police officers earlier in the day.
When the one-hour lunch break began, workers came out of the workshops in processions and after they saw the police at the sheds, they headed towards the railway workers' union office. The canteen next to the office can accommodate over 300 workers for a meeting. The management thought that workers would organise the meeting at the canteen. But many militant workers refused to go to the canteen and insisted that the meeting take place at the scheduled venue.
The four railway workers' leaders — Fazal Wahid, Saifu Rehman, Gul Deraz and Sadiq Baig — failed to arrive at the union office. It was believed that they had been detained by the police. So a second layer of union leaders called for a picket line of the management office instead of the public meeting.
When the workers began marching on the management office, the rail administration released the four leaders.
Police stopped the marching workers from entering the sheds and threatened them with baton charges. This provoked the workers. "Open fire if you want but we will have the public meeting", some of the elderly workers shouted.
A wooden bench was brought on to the main road and the public meeting started. Hundreds of police officers looked on as eight speakers including Pakistan Workers Confederation Punjab chapter chairperson Choudry Gulzar Ahmed, Labour Party Pakistan general secretary Farooq Tariq and Mutehida Workers Federation leader Altaf Baluch addressed the 600 assembled workers in direct defiance of "maintenance of public order" laws.
The 10 workers' leaders charged by the police have all gone "underground".
Please send protest letters to: federal railway minister Lieutenant-General (R) Javed Ashraf, fax +92 51 9215740; federal labour minister Umer Asgar Khan, email <envir@isb.compol.com> or fax +92 51 9202211, +92 51 9224890); or Chief Executive General Pervaiz Musharraf, email <CE@pak.gov.pk>. Please send copies to <labour.pakistan@usa.net>.
BY FAROOQ SULEHRIA