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Seafarers in Pakistan get backing from industrial relations commission
29 June 2006
An ITF-affiliated seafarers’ union in Pakistan has won the backing of the country’s industrial relations commission after an appeal by a shipping corporation, challenging the union’s bargaining status, was dismissed.
The All Pakistan Seamen’s Workers’ Union (APSWU) and the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) had been locked in a legal battle over a number of issues including union recognition.
As well as dismissing PNSC’s appeal last week, the Pakistan national industrial relations commission also threw out the petitions of two other unions as they attempted to challenge APSWU’s legal status as a collective bargaining agent.
Last month, a meeting of the steering group of the ITF’s Fair Practices Committee condemned PNSC in an emergency resolution. This followed letters from ITF General Secretary David Cockroft to PNSC and the Pakistan government demanding that the company’s anti-union practices be eradicated. Apart from failing to negotiate with the APSWU, the nationally registered union, the company recently suspended six key union leaders on spurious charges, barring them from working on board ships in Pakistan.
Welcoming the decision of the commission, Mahendra Sharma, ITF Deputy Regional Secretary Asia-Pacific, said: “It’s time PNSC and other authorities stopped the victimisation of APSWU activists and resumed negotiations with the union to restore industrial peace in Pakistan’s shipping industry.”
He added: “If PNSC does not give up its policy of victimisation, the ITF will be compelled to organise solidarity support for APSWU.”
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