PAKISTAN: Sugar mill workers fight for jobs
LAHORE - More than 700 workers in sugar mills in Sind province were made redundant during July and August. At the Alnoor Sugar Mills and Shah Murad Sugar Mill, both owned by the same person, 240 workers were kicked out at the end of July.
Thirty sugar mills in Sind employ more than 28,000 workers. Several have been closed by the bosses during the past year without paying money due to the workers.
At present, 986 workers are employed by Alnoor Sugar Mills. Five years ago there were 1600. These 986 workers are producing more profits than the 1600. But, ever greedy for more profits, the bosses have laid off 71 permanent workers, most of whom have worked for more than 25 years in these factories.
The union has launched a campaign to demand reinstatement of the workers. The Save City Action Committee, an organisation of the citizens of Moro and Shah Pur Jehania, the two small cities around the factory, has held a rally and the workers have set up a permanent camp outside the factory and begun a hunger strike.
On August 20, 1000 workers protested at Hyderabad against the laying off of the sugar workers. The cement workers of Dada Bhai factory have also joined the protest of the sugar mill workers. More and more unions and political parties are taking up the issue.
The workers need international solidarity. Please email protest letters to the mill owner, Mr Z. Ismail, at BY FAROOQ TARIQ
[Farooq Tariq is general secretary of Labour Party Pakistan.]