Terming the previous government's policies as anti-labourers, the dockers are optimistic that the new establishment would wind up the burning issue of Karachi Dock Labour Board's (KDLB) closure.
"The People's Party has always been labour-friendly, and we are optimistic that it would close the chapter of Board's closure or the talks of its privatisation," said Mohammad Halal, Vice President of Karachi Harbour & Dock Workers' Union, the collective bargaining agent, in talks with Business Recorder on Tuesday.
The KDLB was the brainchild of the PPP leader Abdul Hafeez Pirzada who, he said, had made great efforts in 1970s to establish the Board. "PPP's manshoor (manifesto) is labour-friendly and whatever relief the labourers have today is because of PPP," he said. The CBA vice-president, however, strongly criticised the previous government for its anti-labourers policies.
"The previous government was not in favour of the dock workers and it wanted to deprive around 3200 poor labourers of their jobs," Halal said. When asked if the dockers were still afraid of the Board's closure, he said: "Yes, we are, but Karachi Port Trust Chairman and one of our reliable Board members have given us full assurance that it would not be closed."
He said that the dockers wanted the talks of KDLB's closure to be finished as they had already given a 50 percent concession on port charges at the two terminals--Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) and Karachi International Container Terminal (KICT). "Despite giving 50 percent relief on port charges, we are far from having complete sense of protection at the Board's closure," he said.
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