LAHORE - Thousands of WAPDA workers, the other day, observed the ‘Demand Day’ by holding protest rallies in all the major cities, including Quetta, Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur, Multan, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and others, under the aegis of All Pakistan WAPDA Hydro Electric Workers Union (CBA).
In Lahore, hundreds of workers took out a rally from Bakhtiar Labour Hall, and gathered in front of Lahore Press Club.
The rally was addressed by the veteran trade union leader, Khurshid Ahmed, Haji Muhammad Younus, Rana Shakoor, Muzaffar Mateen ,Sajid Kazmi, Ch Maqsood, Syed Zakir Ali Shah, Rana Shahid, Ch Maqsood Syed Zakir Ali Shah, Rana Shahid, Rana Akram and other trade union representatives along with Secretary of All Pakistan Workers Confederation Osama Tariq and others.
A resolution was passed on the occasion in which the prime minister was urged to allocate more resources for building new hydel power houses and dams to provide cheaper electricity to the people besides eliminating water shortage in the country.
Addressing the Wapda management, the resolution demanded upgradation of the pay scales of the employees.
It was also demanded that the workers employed in distribution, generation, grid stations companies, power houses, drivers, line staff, accounts staff and others be granted the bonus prior to Eidul Azha.
The government was also asked to take steps to control the rising incidents of electrocution of the line staff. It was also demanded that labour laws be applied on employees in the private sector and their pensions be raised to Rs15, 000. Besides that medical facilities were also sought for them after retirement.
