National Museum workers to move SC for payment of salaries

KARACHI: The employees of the National Museum of Pakistan have decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court against the non-payment of their salaries and the National Heritage and Culture Department’s decision to hand over the museum to a private body.

According to National Museum Workers Union President Ali Raza, the employees have not been paid salaries for the past two months. Federal Minister for Education, Professional Training and National Heritage and Culture Shafqat Mehmood, during his visit to the museum in October 2020, had assured the employees that their salaries would be paid from the regular budget.

While talking to The News, Raza said around 88 of 110 workers, including attendants, exhibition assistants, accountants, clerks, sweepers, had not been paid since December 2020, and the federal government had not made any serious effort to address the issue. The reason was that the government wanted to completely privatise the museum and fire regular staffers one by one, he said, adding that the number of the Sindh police constables performing duty at the museum under the federal government’s payroll had been reduced to three from 12.

“The federal government intends to induct a private body to manage the museum without fulfilling the legal formalities, but the workers union will not accept any such body,” said Raza, adding that the workers union affiliated with the National Labour Federation would challenge the government’s decision in the court.

“The museum is not is a shopping mall that could be managed through a private body. It is a place where history has been preserved under the supervision of government employees.”The workers also demonstrated a symbolic hunger strike in front of the museum’s main entrance last week. Later, some of the department’s officials contacted the protesters and assured them that their salaries would be paid from the regular budget and the other issues would also be resolved.