Provisional Victory in Continuing Struggle for Rights at Pakistan Sugar Mill

Posted to the IUF website 01-Oct-2003

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Strong union action backed by international solidarity has won a provisional union victory in the ongoing struggle for union rights and recognition in Pakistan's sugar industry. In June we requested international solidarity with the Army Welfare Sugar Mills Workers' Union (AWSMWU) in Badin, Pakistan. On May 19, the day after the union joined together with sugar industry unions to form the first national federation in the sector, AWSMWU general secretary Abdus Salam Memon (who also heads the Pakistan Sugar Mill Workers' Federation) was instructed by management at the Badin mill to dissolve the union. Memon and other union leaders were shown a letter from the Army Welfare Trust Director of Farms demanding the immediate abolition of the union, on the grounds that the Army Welfare Sugar Mill was the only Army Welfare Trust enterprise to have a union. The mill boss then ordered the union to close its office and cease all activities, effective immediately, and threatened to close it forcibly if the workers didn't comply.

The union fought back with a vigorous local campaign and received extensive international support. The IUF has a complaint pending with the Freedom of Association of the ILO, to which the government of Pakistan has yet to respond.

In response to the pressure both at home and abroad, management on June 26 agreed to recognize the union it had tried to dissolve

However, the Army Welfare Trust, one of the country's largest business conglomerates established in 1971 with extensive financial, commercial and real estate holdings, appears determined to combat union recognition on its home turf.

The mill management continues to pressure the Labour Directorate of Sindh province to cancel the union's registration. The union's legal status is thus in the hands of the notoriously pliant and corrupt Pakistani legal system. Management also stepped up its harassment of union officers and members. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the president, vice president and general secretary of the union, and union members were transferred to different work assignments in order to weaken union support on the shop floor.

On September 18, union general secretary Memon began a hunger strike at the mill's main gate, where the workers began demonstrating twice daily. On September 21, he lost consciousness. Nine more members and officers immediately joined the hunger strike, determined to fast "until death". The IUF and its affiliates sent messages to the mill management, the Army Welfare Trust and to the political authorities.

On September 24, the union held a mass rally in Badin, shutting down the city as workers, political and human rights activists and many other groups participated in the demonstration, which continued throughout the day.

The district administration pressed the mill management to negotiate with the union. By evening the management had accepted the union's demands. In a written agreement, management withdrew all disciplinary charges against the union officers, cancelled all anti-union measures, and agreed to the establishment of a committee to monitor the implementation of the agreement with the union.

The union's legal status, however, remains at risk pending the outcome of the legal process. The IUF is keeping a close eye on the situation and is prepared to take action should management resume its efforts to resist recognition and keep unions out of the vast operations of the Army Welfare Trust.