HYDERABAD — A rally on September 17 demanded the reinstatement of sacked workers at different sugar mills in Sind. The rally, organised by Labour Party Pakistan, started from Beldia Chouk and ended at the Hyderabad Press club building.
More than 1000 workers participated from different trade unions and political parties. The rally was one of the largest organised by a left party in the city for years.
Workers chanted slogans against the military regime, IMF, World Bank, WTO, TRIPs and the bosses. LPP activists also raised slogans in favour of socialism and raised sky-high chants of "East is red".
More than 700 hundred permanent workers have been made redundant at sugar factories in Sind during the last two months, including factories controlled by LPP-affiliated unions.
One such factory is Alnoor Sugar Mills Shah Pur Jehania. Seventy-one permanent workers have been told that their jobs are no more. The union at the factory decided to launch a movement against the decision of the boss.
For over a month, a hunger strike camp at the factory gate was organised where workers will go on hunger strike for 24 hours in solidarity. Many national political leaders visited the camp and made speeches in favour of the sacked workers.
Against this background LPP Moro unit decided to organise a rally in the main city of Sind and asked all the units of LPP to participate. They asked several other trade unions also to come and show the bosses that the sugar workers are not alone. The rally participants were waving red flags and banners saying "No to Sacking of workers at Sugar Mills".
Several trade union leaders spoke at the public meeting at the end of the rally in front of the Press Club building. Those who vowed to continue the struggle included Salim Raza, national secretary of the National Trade Union Federation; Aziz Abbasi, national secretary of Watan Dost Mazdoor Federation; Ilyas Khokhar, secretary of SAZDA workers union; and Aziz Bahio, president of the Sind Sagar Party.
Makhdoom Rashid Ahmed, senior vice chairman of LPP and general secretary of the Alnoor Sugar Mills union, refuted all the claims of the bosses.
He told the audience that sugar mill owners have made huge profits during the last year as usual. Their claim that factories are in loss is in contradiction with their own balance sheets. He said that a factory owner is making at least 12 rupees on a kilogram of sugar. The sugar is sold in the market at a rate of 29 rupees a kilogram.
He said we will not accept the decision of the bosses and will continue our struggle against the bosses and their protector, the military regime. He criticised the conditionalities of the IMF and World Bank and blamed these policies for the present economic crisis.
Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the LPP, congratulated the workers for continuing the struggle even under a military regime. He told the audience that the regime is to blame for the recent retrenchments of workers at public and private sector institutions and factories.
He said that the military regime is trying its best to please its imperialist masters by implementing the conditions of IMF and World Bank. He told the audience that workers internationally have shown their willingness to fight the imperialists in their own countries.
Tariq said the people and the activists of unions in Britain, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Poland have not accepted the high taxation on fuel products and have blockaded refineries in these countries.
He told the demonstrators that the historic blockade of the meeting of the World Economic Forum in Melbourne by the organisers of S11 is the most practical solidarity with the peoples of Pakistan and other poverty-stricken countries.
Tariq announced that all units of the LPP would have a day of action nationally during the month of October to show solidarity with the sugar mill workers.
The progressive union leaders of Dada Bhai Cement Factory were also present. Their leader, Yanus Rahoo, told the rally, "We have not given up despite being out of jobs for two months now, but we are fighting back and our struggle to form a trade union will continue".
The rally ended in a charged atmosphere of unity and solidarity with those who have lost their jobs.
BY FAROOQ SULEHRIA