KARACHI : Veteran politician Mian Raza Rabbani, who is currently serving as a Pakistan Peoples Party senator and has also been a former chairman of the Senate, has berated the federal government for its decision to impose the essential service law on the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and ban trade unions at the national flag carrier, calling it an ultra-constitutional act which violated the fundamental rights granted by the constitution and committed under the United Nations’ declarations.
“This is simply unacceptable and must be withdrawn immediately,” Rabbani said in a statement released on Saturday. He said such an anti-labour declaration by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) government just one day before Labour Day had pushed Pakistan’s working class further in the dark ages. He alleged that the government’s act of banning trade unions was intended to further the agenda of capitalism.The senator’s statement was endorsed by civil society organisations and trade union leaders, including National Labour Council Secretary and Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) Executive Director Karamat Ali, Asad Iqbal But of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Mehnaz Rahman of the Aurat Foundation, Anis Haroon of the Women Action Forum, Sheema Kermani of the Tehreek-i-Niswan, Liaquat Sahi of the Democratic Workers Federations of State Bank, Habibuddin Junaidi of the Peoples Labour Bureau, Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation, Farhat Parveen of the NOW Communities, Muhammad Ali Shah of the Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum, Punhal Saryo of Sindhi Hari Porhyat Council and others.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/653377-rabbani-rights-activists-decry-ban-on-trade-unions-at-pia
