Sanitation workers set up protest camp for salaries

PESHAWAR: The All Municipal Workers Union of Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) on Monday set up a protest camp outside the company’s head office to demand release of salaries.Riaz Khan, Abid Sohail and other office-bearers of the union termed the non-payment of salaries a criminal act on the part of the government and warned of stopping garbage removal from across the city if the salaries were not released forthwith. They said the protesting workers could also stop water supply to the general public if their demand was not met. The office-bearers said that the workers were not receiving salaries on time for the last six months.

They alleged that the chief executive was neither obeying the court order nor complying with the decision of the jirga mediated by district administration. The office-bearers said the jirga held at the deputy commissioner’s office had agreed that the workers’ demands were just and would be met soon.

However, the decision was not implemented to date, they said, adding that the management of the company had no sympathy with the workers who were finding it difficult to run the kitchens. They said that the company should reduce expenses. “If the company is really in financial trouble, then why its offices were being run air-conditioners all the time and why the officers were provided free fuel for their vehicles,” a protesting worker said.

The protesters demanded the government to close these companies across the province to reduce the financial burden on the government exchequer. They vowed to continue the protest at all zonal offices and head office till their demands were accepted.