USC employees call off sit-in

ISLAMABAD: The employees of Utility Stores Corporation (USC) called off the sit-in after successful talks with the government here on Thursday.

Adviser to Prime Minister Abdul Razzaq Dawood finally convinced the protesting employees of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) to end their sit-in as he held negotiations with them for a long time. The government will issue a copy of notification about acceptance of all demands to the USC on Friday.

All Pakistan Utility Stores Corporation Union Chairman Arif Shah announced to call off the sit-in after successful talks with the government. He said the government had accepted all of their demands. “If government takes U-turn on its assurances, we will start sit-in once again. We will stage our ‘dharna’ here at the Parliament House, if the government takes U-turn,” he warned.

He also announced to open all stores in the country from Friday (today). The sit-in entered the fifth day on Thursday and the employees decided to continue the protest until a written notification of acceptance of all demands was issued by the government. All utility stores throughout the country are closed for the last five days while poor consumers depending on government-run stores are facing difficulties. The USC employees were protesting against anticipated privatisation of the corporation and in favour of their other demands.