The Militant - March 7, 2011 -- On the Picket Line

Vol. 75/No. 9 March 7, 2011

On the Picket Line

Pakistan utility workers
in Karachi win back 4,500 jobs
Protests by workers employed by the Karachi Electric Supply Company in Pakistan forced the government January 23 to reverse its order to eliminate 4,500 jobs. After the company announced the layoffs, workers took immediate action, organizing a sit-in over the next four days and five nights outside the electric company’s main office in Gizri. Additional protests halted the utilities’ operations in other parts of the city.

Under an agreement that privatized the electric utility three years ago, jobs of workers then employed would not be eliminated over this time period. Now that this time period is up, the company was attempting to take advantage of that, noted the Pakistani newspaper Dawn.

—Brian Williams

Pakistan airline workers win
demands in four-day strike
A four-day strike by workers at Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) ended February 11 with the government promising to meet all their demands. The action led to cancellation of some 400 flights.

The walkout was organized around three basic demands: withdrawal of a Memorandum of Understanding in which Pakistan International Airlines would turn over “lucrative” U.S. and European routes to Turkish Airlines in order to avoid bankruptcy, removal of PIA managing director Aijaz Haroon, and reinstatement of all workers fired by the airline bosses. The workers’ negotiating committee also demanded the government prevent Haroon from leaving the country and that he face corruption charges.

On the last day of the walkout, strikers and their supporters withstood an attack by cops and other thugs at the Karachi airport. Police “went into action and beat peaceful protesters,” reported Dawn. The cops "were supported by a large number of stick-wielding people who had emerged from nowhere,” injuring a number of protesters.

—Brian Williams