Protest Rights Violations at Serena Hotel in Pakistan !

Posted to the IUF website 19-May-2005

Share this article.



Haji Gul Hassan, president of the Quetta Serena Hotel Workers Union, has been dismissed from employment at the Serena Hotel in Quetta (Pakistan) in connection with a "violation of hotel rules and regulations" which stipulate that the hotel premises is off-limits to off-duty employees. But on the day in question, Gul Hassan was on the premises in his capacity as union president to assist a union member applying for disability leave. Despite the fact that it was not unusual for him to come to the hotel on his day off to take care of union business, he was served with a dismissal notice on March 30. Hotel employees protested and demanded the reinstatement of the unfairly dismissed union president and the local labour federation proposed talks with the hotel management, but the offer was not taken up. On April 29, Gul Hassan approached the hotel premises in order to hand deliver a grievance notice and was beaten by security guards in the presence of hotel management staff. He was then taken into custody by the police, who had been alerted by the human resources manager. The following day, union members held a sit-in outside the hotel from 4:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m., when Gul Hassan was finally released from police custody.

On May 3, more than 60 union members taking part in a peaceful demonstration outside the hotel were arrested at the behest of management and held in police custody until midnight.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The IUF has written to the hotel management and to the owner of the Serena Hotel Group, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development*, pointing out that such acts of intimidation and aggression represent clear violations of basic human rights, especially those laid down in the international labour conventions of the ILO. To do the same, please click here. Copies will be automatically sent to the IUF secretariat and to the IUF Asia/Pacific regional secretariat and passed on to the Quetta Serena Hotel Workers Union.

We thank you in advance for your solidarity and support.

* The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) is an international for-profit development agency which helps build enterprises in specific regions of the developing world. Through direct participation in the management of companies in which it invests and through partnerships with investors, AKFED builds strong local companies. This approach, combined with AKFED's sensitivity to the impact of its investments on the human and physical environment, helps to foster a sound and socially responsible private sector in the developing world." [paraphrased from information on the website http://www.akdn.org/agency/akfed.html.]