General Tyre workers’ strike enters ninth day

KARACHI: Work at General Tyre remained suspended for the ninth consecutive day on Wednesday as employees went on an indefinite strike demanding higher wages and permanent jobs.

The strike, which started on March 16 after management, refused to accept charter of demands of the Collective Bargaining Agent (CBA) has completely stopped production at country’s largest tyre manufacturer.

“The management is not even willing to sit and negotiate with us,” said Safdar Jabbar, General Secretary, CBA. “It was not a new thing to present charter of demands, which is presented after every two years.”

He said an increment in salary has become imperative for the labour amid double digit rise in inflation. “Besides, most of the workers are hired on contract. It is in violation of labour laws to hire on contract where labour has to work on fixed machinery.”

The management has resorted to highhandedness, he alleged, adding that the President of CBA along with 26 employees have been terminated from job. The union wants across the board raise of Rs4,000 in salaries.

General Tyre, which is the single largest supplier of tyres to car assemblers in the country, came out of losses in the six months to December 2009 period after posting losses for two consecutive years.

Shahid Hussain, Chief Executive, said it was too late to restart negotiations with the labour union. “We were offering them a fair deal. CBA has nothing to do with contractual workers. The company is looking after their benefits in the best possible way.”

He said workers should realize that it has been tough time for the company as it has just recovered from losses. “I told them not to go for the extreme step of shutting off the plant because this is very crucial time for the company. But they did not listen.”

The management, he insisted, had already introduced incentive packages like cash bonuses and performance rewards in shape of motorcycles. “They saw the profit and thought it legitimate to seek a pay raise,” Shahid said.

General Tyre posted a profit of Rs201 million in July-December 2009. It recorded loss of Rs109m in the fiscal year, which closed in June 2009. In last few years, the company has added curing presses and tyre building machines at its Landhi factory to increase production capacity to 1.726m tyres. But last fiscal year production drop 18pc to 1.3m as demand from carmakers remained sluggish.