Article from Dawn.
By Sher Baz Khan, Dawn
ISLAMABAD, June 14: In a last minute move, the PTCL Workers Unions Action Committee on Tuesday postponed its plan to jam countrywide telecommunication system for an indefinite period but did not call off their strike on June 18, the day of bidding for 26 per cent shares of the company. The unexpected move came only 30 minutes before the deadline the union leaders had given to the government for jamming the network of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company.
Action committee member Malik Maqbool Hussain told Dawn that everything would be clear by Wednesday morning and that the committee was not at present in a position to disrupt the network after President Ziauddin and Secretary-General Rana Tahir of the Pakistan Telecommunication Employees Union had called off the strike after talks with the management.
However, he said the action committee condemned the ‘move’ and declared that the two union leaders were turncoats and ‘traitors’.
Mr Hussain said the workers would now come up with another strategy to prevent the company from being privatized.
He said Ziauddin and Tahir had announced their personal decisions while bowing to the management and the workers and the action committee still opposed the privatization.
He said there was zero per cent attendance of PTCL workers in Islamabad and the rest of the country on Tuesday and that the PTCL installations were being run by the Army Signals Corps.
An official statement said Ziauddin and Tahir held a meeting with PTCL President and Chief Executive Junaid I. Khan and accepted the over Rs5 billion package for allowing the privatization of the company.
The union leaders said the workers were satisfied that 62 per cent shares of the PTCL would remain with the government and added that the management had accepted all demands of the union, the statement said.
Mr Khan said the agreement with the PTCL’s Collective Bargaining Agent would be given final touches within two days, the statement added.
A member of the unions action committee told Dawn the three main leaders of the committee, Haji Khan Bhatti, Sirajul Hassan and Qazi Abdurrashid, had been arrested in Karachi and the committee had become weak.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the Privatization Commission discussed arrangements for the bidding of the PTCL shares on June 18.
The meeting was informed that pre-qualified bidders would deposit their earnest money, $40 million each, latest by June 16 to be eligible to participate in the bidding as per regulations laid down in the bid documents.
The meeting also reviewed matters pertaining to pre-qualification of parties for privatization of Jamshoro Power Company and Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works.
It formulated recommendations for the Cabinet Committee on Privatization for the sale of machinery of Bolan Textile Mills, Badami Bagh Land and Mustehkum Cement.
On the other hand, the unions action committee in a statement appealed to media to support the general strike that trade unions, traders associations and civil society groups had planned for June 18 throughout the country to pressurize the government to postpone privatization.
A union leader said family members of PTCL workers would stage a protest demonstration in front of parliament house to pressurize the government to reverse the privatization process of the company.
Our Staff Reporter from Karachi adds: PTCL workers distanced themselves from their colleagues who had allegedly struck a deal with the management and called off the strike.
Shahid Ayub of the action committee said Ziauddin and Tahir did not represent any union of PTCL workers and were in no position to strike a deal with the management.
Meanwhile, army troops guarding the PTCL gateway exchange and other sensitive installations handed over seven protesting workers to police in the city, sources said. They said the workers had raised slogans against the PTCL management and refused to resume work.
The sources said the PTCL’s entire workforce in Karachi totalled 11,000 and most of those from grade I to XV were on strike.
According to Mr Ayub, in a countrywide crackdown on Monday over 300 more workers were arrested by law enforcing agencies. He added the total number of PTCL workers detained was over 1,100.
He claimed over 650,000 telephone lines were currently out of order.