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Trade union ban at Pakistani airline repealed
13 August 2008
 |  | | UK demonstration against PIA's anti-union repression, May 2006 | |
The ITF has welcomed news that the Pakistani government has lifted a ban preventing employees of the country’s national carrier from joining a union.
The Pakistani government passed a bill earlier this month lifting a ban on trade union activities at Pakistan International Airlines. The decision follows a concerted campaign by the ITF to protect workers represented by five affiliated trade unions and three others, whose repression had been internationally condemned; a number of union activists employed by PIA had been dismissed or suspended. The campaign included a call to boycott the airline.
A ruling by the International Labour Organization, following a complaint by the ITF, claimed that the government was violating trade union rights. In addition the Pakistani Supreme Court ruled that the anti-union tactics employed by PIA were illegal.
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft commented: “Two years ago we responded to pleas for help from our colleagues in Pakistan, and launched a campaign to secure their basic right to join a union without fear of intimidation. When diplomacy, demonstrations and appeals failed and findings against the government were brushed aside, we took the extremely serious step of launching a boycott. At last those efforts have been rewarded and we can call off the campaign.”
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