Tell Pakistan's President Musharaf to Respect Trade Union Rights! Solidarity with Pearl Continental Hotel Workers

Posted to the IUF website 16-Oct-2002

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For over one year, the union at Karachi's upscale Pearl Continental Hotel has been fighting for basic trade union rights. The conflict began in September 2001, when management announced that it would sack all casual and temporary workers and eliminate one day of paid work per week for permanent staff. The union called for negotiations, but management ignored the request and proceeded to fire 350 casual workers. The union was not informed, nor were the dismissed workers. The dismissal letter was published in a daily newspaper on November 8, and the workers were barred from entering the hotel when they reported for work the next day.

What began as a union campaign to defend the rights of casual hotel employees escalated quickly into an all-out management attack on the existence of the union and the physical well-being and safety of its members and officers. In January 2002, an accidental fire at the hotel served as the pretext for police to illegally detain a number of union officers and members.

Union General Secretary Ghulam Mehboob, Joint Secretary Bashir Hussain, and Vice Chairman Aurangzeg were arrested on January 7 and detained until March 21, when they were freed on bail. Mohammad Nasir and Mohammad Nawaz, two of the union officers who were illegally detained, were suspended from their posts for so-called absenteeism, and remain suspended. Ghulam Mehboob, Bashir Hussain and Auragzeb were terminated by the hotel � at whose instigation they were arrested �on March 2, while in detention. Union officers Noor Wali, Ali Murad, Hidayatullah, Moin Khan and Nasreen Reshad were dismissed on March 11 without any prior information. Thirty-one active union members and office bearers were also terminated as the result of an alleged restructuring plan.

The union refused to surrender to these acts of intimidation and continued to hold demonstrations and press conferences. Management again escalated its anti-union violence on July 6, when two union officers � Vice Chairman Aurangzeb and Vice Social Secretary Hidayatullah - were picked up by police outside the hotel while waiting to take off-duty hotel employees to a public memorial for the recently deceased former labour minister Omar Ashgar Khan. They were beaten by the Assistant Superintendent of police in the presence of two members of the hotel management staff, and released only after more than 26 hours in police custody.

In response to these acts of violence, IUF members wrote to support the union's appeal for an impartial inquiry into the conduct of the Karachi police and the Pearl Continental management. To date, there has been no response on the part of the state government.

Union appeals through the labour directorate and the courts regarding the dismissals, management abolition of the union check-off and attempts to de-register the union are now tied up in various legal processes, which move very slowly.

The government of Pakistan is the subject of a complaint filed by the IUF with the Freedom of Association Committee of the ILO. A decision can be expected in November, when the Committee meets.

What you can do

To increase pressure on the government of Pakistan to intervene for a settlement of this conflict based on respect for trade union rights, the Pearl Continental Hotel Workers' Union has requested that messages be sent directly to Pakistan's President Musharaf, with copies to the hotel management. A sample letter, based on the IUF's own communication to Musharaf, follows.

Sample Message to the President of Pakistan

To: Mr. Pervez Musharaf, President & Chief Executive Of the Islamic Republic Of Pakistan
Fax: 92-51-9206907/ 92-51-9206907/92-51-8224590
E-mail: [email protected]
General Manager, Pearl Continental Hotel, Karachi, Pakistan
Fax: + 92 21 568 1835/568 2655
E-mail: [email protected]
Concerns: grave violations of democratic rights at the Karachi Pearl Continental Hotel

Dear Mr. President
I have been informed by the IUF, an international trade union federation representing over 12 million members in 126 countries, about repeated and serious violations of basic democratic rights at Karachi's Pearl Continental Hotel.

For over one year, the democratically elected trade union representing the overwhelming majority of hotel employees has been seeking to defend the trade union rights guaranteed workers under Pakistan's constitution and international Conventions. Over the course of the past year, members and office-bearers of the Pearl Continental Hotel Workers' Union have been brutally dismissed from their jobs, detained illegally by police, threatened with violence and, most recently, beaten at a local police station in the presence of hotel management staff. At no time during these events has there been any indication that the laws which exist in principle to protect Pakistan's workers are being enforced, or that the principle of equal justice before the law is being applied.

Since these abuses have taken place with the cooperation and collaboration of the Pakistani police and local government authorities, in gross violation of both national law and international Conventions of the United Nations, the government of Pakistan is now the object of a complaint filed with the International Labour Organization, part of the United Nations system, Case No. 2169. When the ILO rules that the government of Pakistan has failed to uphold international Conventions on freedom of association, as it inevitably will in view of the overwhelming evidence, the results will be printed in official United Nations documents and made available on the ILO web site.

It should be self-evident that the negative publicity in connection with the Pearl Continental management's brutal and illegal behaviour towards its employees and their trade union will cause considerable damage to Pakistan's image abroad. It is also self-evident that tourism will be negatively affected, as few travellers wish to stay at a hotel whose management personally participates in beating their staff. Potential visitors will reflect seriously on whether they wish to visit a country whose police seem to function as instruments of intimidation and retribution on the part of wealthy businessmen rather than as guardians of public order.

We suggest that it is in Pakistan's interest to ensure that this issue is resolved quickly on the basis of respect for international Conventions to which your government is a signatory. We would therefore ask that you use your good offices to intervene with the management and owner of the Pearl Continental Hotel to ensure that the rights of the Pearl Continental Hotel Workers' Union are fully respected and that management cease all violence and intimidation directed against the employees of this establishment and their trade union. We further request that a full, impartial and transparent inquiry be convened to investigate flagrant abuses of police and judicial power in connection with management's illegal aggression against the Pearl Continental Hotel Workers' Union.

Yours sincerely,

Kindly send copies of any message you might send to the IUF secretariat. We will convey them to the Pearl Continental Hotel Workers' Union.

We thank you in advance for your solidarity and support.