Whether you call it downsizing, layoff, or rationalization, all mean nearly the same thing: you are rendering people jobless. The approval that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has granted to the ‘rationalization plan’ for the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) will enable the authorities to lay off nearly 10, 000 employees. Though the ECC has tied the approval with a legal go-ahead, the plan itself appears to be more of an eradication than rationalization. Since the government is so fond of advisers and special assistants rather than elected representatives, the ECC meeting was chaired by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Hafeez Shaikh. Cleverly dubbed a ‘full and final human resource rationalization plan for PSM employees’ the scheme makes it seem like it is in accordance with the judgment and observations of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and other courts hearing the cases about the PSM. It is a long story of how a world class steel mill initiated by the then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970, was built and handed over to Pakistan by the erstwhile Soviet Union in the 1980s.
General Ziaul Haq’s regime hired many more people than were actually required and then the subsequent governments followed suit. Finally it started incurring huge losses in 2008 and its operations came to a complete halt in 2015. This saga of nearly half a century is now taking a new turn. PTI leaders such as Asad Umar, and Imran Khan himself, before coming to power had promised a positive turnaround by improving the PSM management so that once again it could be operationalized. For the past two years it seemed that the government had no interest in running it; rather it looked at other options including the one approved now which is going to have a disastrous impact on its employees. Contrary to its claims, the government has been unable to involve private investors and management.
Now, with this proposed layoff thousands of employees will find themselves jobless in a market which is already teeming with the unemployed especially in the aftermath of the corona crisis. According to reports, nearly half of the existing workforce of the PSM is within the age bracket of 50 to 60 years, meaning they still have families to support and many years of productive life. Moreover, the PSM has not been able to pay the retirement dues of the retirees for the last five years. We understand that the government may not be able to carry on paying salaries when there is no production at the mills, but the point is why no efforts have been made to operationalize it with the existing employees rather than firing them with one stroke. One can assume that all these employees will be happy to go back to work rather than being fired or sitting idle. They have the expertise and the skills needed to revive the mills -- provided they get to work under good management. We urge the government to understand the value of reviving the mill in a sustainable manner.