Appeal for solidarity with printing workers in Pakistan

The All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF) has issued an 
urgent appeal for international support in the case of the 
workers sacked from their jobs at Colorking Printing Press in 
Manawala in the District of Lahore. The 25 workers were dismissed 
for trying to form a union at their workplace in spite of the 
protection of the country's labour laws. Their experience 
demonstrates how employers are above the law in Pakistan and how 
little interest the state has in safeguarding workers' 
rights.

Workers in Pakistan face horrendous conditions. They suffer long 
hours, poor conditions and no freedom of association. On April 10 
this year, the workers at Colorking decided to take advantage of 
their legal rights and form the Colorking Printing Press Workers 
Union. They applied to register the association with the 
Registrar of Trade Unions for the Lahore District on the same 
day. The workers were sacked immediately.

The union applied for — and got — a stay order regarding the 
dismissals but the employer simply refused to obey it. The 25 
workers, including their officials, remained locked out of their 
workplace.

On June 1, the APTUF held a demonstration about the issue outside 
the offices of the Labour Department in Lahore. Eventually, 
representatives of the peak council were given an interview with 
the Assistant Director who undertook to have a departmental 
representative visit the workplace. The official was denied 
entry!

Colorking denied that the sacked workers were their employees. 
Their attendance records were not accepted as proof. In common 
with 95 per cent of employers in Pakistan, Colorking does not 
issue any identifying documents to their workers. This helps them 
to take fullest advantage of the informal contract system that 
most workers in Pakistan are employed under.

Meanwhile, on June 9, Colorking was able to enlist the help of 
the police who arrested two office bearers of the union on the 
basis of a concocted "First Investigation Report". On June 16, 
the two were released without charge after the intervention of 
the APTUF.

Leaders of the APTUF and the sacked workers have been targeted by 
employers and religious fundamentalists groups and subjected to 
criminal threats. The police have no interest in protecting the 
rights of workers or their unions in this case, which typifies 
the industrial relations scene in PakistanJ.

The APTUF is calling on all those who value human rights to 
support their demands, which are:

* A halt to the violation of International Labour Organisation 
Conventions 98 and 87 [regarding the Right to Organise and 
Bargain Collectively and Freedom of Association, respectively]

* The immediate reinstatement of the sacked Colorking workers

* The registration of the Colorking Printing Press Union under the law

* An end to the Contract Labour System

Send messages of support to:

Nasir Chaudhary Press & Publication Secretary All Pakistan Trade 
Union Federation 14-N, Gulberg Industrial Area, Gulberg II, 
Lahore, Pakistan Email: aptuf@brain.net.pk

And protests to:

Honourable Kahlid Maqbool Governor of Punjab Governor House 
Lahore, Pakistan Email: governor.sectt@punjab.gov.pk

Honourable Ch. Pervaiz Elahi Chief Minister of Punjab Chief 
Minister House, Lahore, Pakistan

Mr.Zarar Haider Director Labour Welfare Punjab 62 — D,
New Muslim Town, Lahore, Pakistan Mr. Shanawaz Badar 

Labour Secretary Labor & Human Resource Department Government of 
the Punjab Civil Secretariat, Lahore Pakistan Email: labour@punjab.gov.pk