With the ship-cleaning workers warning of a law and order situation at Karachi Port, the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and Pakistan Stevedores' Conference (PSC) are allegedly trying to eliminate a registered union of the former from the port.
The KPT was "discriminating" the registered labourers from Karachi Harbour Ship Cleaning Workers Union (KHSCWU) on the behest of stevedoring companies and wanted to eliminate the Union, apprehended KHSCWU General Secretary SM Ajaz while talking to Business Recorder on Monday.
The KPT, PSC and KHSCWU were at loggerheads with each other over the lingering issue of entry passes to at least 288 union labourers, who were earning their livelihood at Karachi Port by cleaning the vessels and making damaged part of the cargo useable, since January 2007, he added.
"Despite our repeated written requests and meetings with KPT officials including General Manager Operations, Traffic Manager and Commandant Port Security Force, the matter of issuance of Entry Passes to the registered ship cleaning workers still stands unresolved," Ajaz complained.
He said his union, regretting a "step-motherly attitude" was demanding the KPT of renewing the gate passes to its members. "The step-motherly attitude with us is astonishing as the KPT has renewed passes to the registered By-road workers who are non-KPT employees and perform their duties in the port area same like the ship cleaning workers," said the KHSCWU official.
The port operator, which he said had framed new rules and regulations for issuing passes to the workers in line with its stringent measures to tighten security at the port, had made it mandatory for the pass-seekers to bring an authority letter issued by their employer in their favour.
"The Stevedoring Conference is denying to become our employer and does not issue authority letter to us," Ajaz claimed. He said the PSC had signed Charter of Demands with the Union in 2001 and Registrar of Trade Unions had issued it the Certificate of Union and had verified its workers in the presence of representatives of PSC and KPT in 1998.
"If we are not a registered union then why the Stevedores' Conference had signed Memorandum of Settlement with us," Ajaz questioned. Despite providing all documents, which could prove the Union a registered body, the cleaning workers were not being employed by the Stevedores, he lamented.
Requesting different governmental offices including the chief secretary and labour department of Sindh Government to intervene for resolution of the dispute, the workers representative said the move would help KPT avoid a law and order situation at Karachi Port.
Ajaz claimed that the workers, who were required to go on requisitioned jobs on time, were deliberately being stopped outside the gate, particularly at West Wharf, by the PSF staff for hours, resultantly they were reporting late to their work.
"Quite often these workers are threatened that KPT entry passes would not be issued to them anymore which is creating great unrest amongst them," he claimed.
Meanwhile, KHSCWU President, Mehr Gul demanding issuance of yearly permanent passes to the workers accused the stevedoring firms of sidelining the registered union workers and employing "kutche" (impermanent) labourers on daily wages.
The KPT in a letter to the ministry of ports and shipping had clarified that all permanent Port Entry Passes were being issued to the laborers/workers on the request of their employers.
But in this case the employer is PSC (Guaranteed) Ltd which had not sent consolidated case to it for issuance of the passes to the KHSCWU workers, it added.
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