Boosting cement cargo handling: stevedores, dockers agree to cut normal tonnage by 25 percent

Stevedoring companies and dockers, dealing with cement cargo handling at Karachi Port, have reached an agreement to reduce the normal wages-oriented tonnage from 120 tonnes (2,400 bags) to 90 tonnes (1,800 bags) to provide relief to the latter and enhance handling of the exportable commodity.
It would be important to mention that the wage regime of workers at Karachi Port comprises two parts, the normal and the overtime. In the first part, when a 24-member gang of workers handles 120 tonnes of bagged cement it earns over Rs 300 per head, which is called normal and is considered to be a part of labourers monthly basic pay.
After handling 120 tonnes of bagged cargo as normal, which is binding on laborers as per Karachi Dock Labour Board (KDLB) Scheme 1973, the dockers have their overtime period started at the rate of Rs 46 per hour, which is counted as per tonnage. One hour is considered to be equivalent to 12 tonnes comprising 240 bags of 50 kilogram.
According to sources the dockers' monthly basic pay stands at around Rs 5,400 for the night shift and Rs 4,950 for those working in the daytime, which also includes the wages an on-duty labourer earns normally.
They said the 30 tonnes or 25 percent reduction in the normal tonnage would not only bring relief to the port workers, who have long been breathing hard under the time and energy-consuming normal tonnage of 120 tonnes, but also put positive impacts on the cement cargo handling at the port.
The sources said the deal was clinched during a meeting between stevedoring companies, like Friends Corporation Limited (FCL), Badruddin Stevedores (BS), MM Towers (MMT) etc, and Karachi Harbour & Dock Workers Union, Collective Bargaining Agent (KHDWU-CBA) on August 21, 2008 at KDLB's Board Room.
Those who attended the meeting included President MMT Rear Admiral Hamid Khalid (Retd.), President FCL Saleem Hora, President BS Mohammad Riaz, Captain Afzal of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC), Mardan Ali Abbasi of Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Senior Vice President and General Secretary of KHDWU-CBA, Hilal Khan and S.M Ajaz.
The meeting decided that from September 9, 2008 the dockers would handle 90 tonnes of cement as normal after which they would be given the overtime on the basis of 11 tonnes (220 bags) per hour, said the sources.
"The stevedores have realised that 120 tonnes is a difficult task for the labourers so they have agreed to reduce it to 90 tonnes," said Senior Vice President KHDWU-CBA Hilal Khan. The labour representative, however, made it clear that the move would only work if the stevedores ensure the berthing of new ships with state-of-the-art cargo handling equipment like cranes etc at the port.
"The more weight lifting capacity a ship crane would have the more output we would give to the stevedores," Khan said. S.M Ajaz General Secretary of KHDWU-CBA, however, said the stevedoring firms had assured the dockers that they would convince the shipping agents to avoid docking of the outdated vessels at Karachi Port. "Most of the cement ships visiting Karachi Port are so old that their cranes move at a snail's pace, thus not only slowing the cargo handling process but also earning less wages for the labourers," he claimed.