World | Pakistan
Frustration flares at power utility
Two employees of power company in Karachi critical after setting fire to themselves
- By Mohammad Ashraf, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 February 4, 2012
Karachi: At least two employees of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) yesterday attempted to immolate themselves during a sit-in against the management decision to shed surplus staff.
Mohammad Khalid, 30, a lower grade employee sprinkled himself with gasoline and lit a match leaving him with severe burns to his upper body and arms before colleagues could rush to his rescue. Shafi Ahmad, 35, a clerk then tried to douse himself with gasoline but ended up ingesting a fair amount of the fuel as concerned colleagues tried to wrestle it away from him. Both were rushed to government hospitals and were reported to be critical. "It was unfortunate but people are extremely frustrated because they have not [been] paid salaries for nine months," Akhlaq Ahmad, chairman of the Labour Unity union said.
Year-long struggle
The sit-in was staged by the KESC employees to press ahead with their year-long battle with the management. The management and the employees fell out last year when a list of 4,500 workers was drawn up for lay-offs under a ‘volunteer separation scheme' (VSS). Although the management offer sounded to be optional, it later turned out that the affected workers would have no other go.
Legal and technical battles that ensued resulted in long power disruptions in the country's largest industrial city with a population of over 18 million. Some 600 employees were subsequently sacked whereas some 2,000 employees availed the management offer of VSS.
A truce was reached between the two parties when the government intervened in the matter. It was decided that the management would not fire any employees and withdraw all cases against the employees and their leaders and reinstate sacked workers.
"The management has been violating all the clauses of the agreement and that is why we are forced to resume our protest," Ahmad said. The remaining 2,000 employees are still resisting the management.
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