Pakistan : Woodworkers seek regularisation of service
PESHAWAR, Aug 10: Over 250 workers of Pak-German Wood Working Centre have threatened to launch strike if their demands, including regularisation of service, were not accepted.
They said that the centre,
located on Kohat Road, Peshawar, had been earning millions of rupees every month as it was the most reliable factory providing quality furniture to all government departments for the last few decades.
The warning came during a meeting of office-bearers of the workers’ union, including Murtaza Khan, Mohammad Shahid, Hidayatullah, Hanifur Rehman and Ashfaq Ahmed. They said that though the centre was earning huge profits, the staff had been working on meagre salaries without any service structure.
They said that high-ups of the factory administration had not been listening to their repeated requests.
During the meeting, the woodworkers demanded of the government to regularise their service as they had been working on fixed salaries for the last 16 years.
They also sought project allowance and annual bonus, claiming that they were entitled to such benefits since 2001.
They said that woodworkers had been meeting the factory’s targets by working day and night. The Pak-German Wood Working Centre was established in 1972 under the technical and financial assistance of the German government for promotion and development of the wood working industry.
Keeping in view the increasing demand of its high quality furniture, branches of this centre were also established in Dera Ismail Khan, Karak, Mansehra, Timergara, Chitral, Haripur and Batkhela.
Besides providing furniture to government departments, the centre has also been imparting professional training to the youth. It has 60 seats for the two-year post-matriculation certificate courses and three and a half years diploma course in wood technology, the employees said.
Published by Daily Dawn on Aug 10, 2016
