Employees left unpaid as Utility Stores shut down

ISLAMABAD: The closure of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) has left employees without salaries as ten days of August have passed without payment.

The employees say they are facing difficulties due to the delay, which came after the federal government shut down the operations of the utility stores on July 31.

According to Syed Arif Hussain Shah, Secretary General of the Employees Union, the recent losses to the utility stores are the result of the government’s poor policies. He accused ministers of making misleading statements in the National Assembly about the state of the corporation and claimed that the committee headed by Rana Sanaullah had failed to fulfill the promises made to the employees.

Shah further alleged that preparations have been completed to sell fixed assets worth billions of rupees at high prices. He referred to the existing injunction and termed the closure of the utility stores as contempt of court and said that closing the corporation without following the legal procedure is a violation of Pakistan’s Constitution and labor laws.

The union leader accused the government of sacrificing a government institution for personal gain, vowing to protect the rights of employees at all costs. He warned that if the government did not fulfill its promises, the workers would be forced to stage another sit-in in Islamabad.

Earlier, the employees had staged a long protest in the federal capital against the shutdown. The sit-in was called off after successful negotiations between the government and the employees’ action committee, but the employees now accuse the authorities of reneging on the agreement, as salaries are pending and operations have been halted.