Repression Inc.: Pakistan Army Bosses Dissolve Sugar Union One Day after Launch of National Federation

Posted to the IUF website 03-Jun-2003

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Abdus Salam Memon, General Secretary of the Army Welfare Sugar Mill Workers' Union. Elected to head the newly founded national sugar workers' federation, his own union was ordered dissolved the following day.

On May 17-18, unions from Pakistan's sugar industry came together to found the first national federation of unions in the sector, the Pakistan Sugar Mill Workers' Federation . The federation was founded with the support of the IUF in an effort to end the historic divisions which have weakened Pakistan's trade union movement and to lay the ground for a united organizing and bargaining front of sugar workers faced with over-capacity, restructuring, and repression.

One day after the successful launch of the federation, the general secretary of one of the founding member unions, the Army Welfare Sugar Mills Workers' Union (AWSMWU), was instructed by his boss to dissolve the union.

Abdus Salam Memon, AWSMWU general secretary, returned to work on the evening of the 18 to a warm welcome from his fellow workers. The next day, he and other union officers were called to a meeting with acting general manager Colonel (retired) Zahinullah Khan. The union leaders were shown a letter from the Army Welfare Trust Director of Farms demanding the immediate abolition of the union, on the grounds that the Army Welfare Sugar Mill was the only Army Welfare Trust enterprise to have a union.

The acting general manager than ordered the union - which has been in existence since the plant began operations in 1983 - to close its office and cease its activities, stating that he would do so forcibly if the union failed to comply. Factory managers were then instructed to have no relations with the union and to cease communicating with the elected officers.

The union leaders immediately informed the membership in a general assembly, at which members condemned the decision and vowed to fight for their collective rights. Since then, the workers have met regularly twice a day, at the beginning and the end of their work shift.

Management has registered a complaint against the union president and constituted an internal board of inquiry in what the union believes are steps towards his dismissal and pressure on the workforce to drop their union's bargaining demands drawn up last year.

The Army Welfare Trust, established by Pakistan's armed forces in 1971, has extensive financial, commercial and real estate holdings and is one of the country's most powerful conglomerates. It is also engaged in a campaign of repression against the thousands of tenant farmers on the extensive farmlands it owns in Punjab.

The union has protested these anti-union moves to the local authorities and is campaigning vigorously inside Pakistan. The IUF has filed a complaint with the Freedom of Association Committee of the ILO. We are asking for messages to the employer and to the federal labour minister in order to defend the union. The message below may serve as a sample.

Sample Message to the Army Welfare Trust

To: Lt. General (Rtd.) Masood Pervez
Managing Director
Army Welfare Trust
AWT Plaza, The Mall,
Rawalpindi
Pakistan
Fax: +92 51-9272394/+92 51-9272418

cc: Secretary of Labour
Government of Pakistan
Islamabad
Pakistan
Fax. 9251-9203462

Sir:

I have been informed by the IUF that the head office of the Army Welfare Trust has issued an order to the management of Army Welfare Sugar Mills, Badin, in which the management is directed to case recognition of the trade union at the mill, the Army Welfare Sugar Mills Workers' Union, and to forcibly stop the union's activities. The union has been in existence at the mill since 1983 and has a long-standing collective bargaining relationship with the management.

This order is in gross contravention of the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining set out in Conventions 87 and 98 of the International labour Organization (ILO), rights which the government of Pakistan is obliged to uphold. These Conventions have the force of international treaty law and are legally binding upon the government.

I therefore urge you to rescind this order and to ensure that the rights of the union at the Badin mill are fully restored. I shall be closely following developments in this regard.

Yours sincerely,

Kindly send copies to the IUF secretariat and to the IUF Pakistan Outreach Office (Fax: + 92 21 635 0354, E-mail: [email protected]).

We thank you in advance for your solidarity and support.