Dismissed for trying to join a trade union, Unilever workers in Pakistan rally to each other’s cause

Despite brutal attacks on conditions and trade union rights at Unilever in Pakistan, dismissed workers from the Rahim Yar Khan factory have visited the camp of dismissed workers of the Dalda factory in Karachi to offer solidarity and strengthen their joint struggle.

The Dalda factory produces Unilever’s Blue Band magarine under contract. When workers at the factory, which is owner by former Unilever managers, sought to join a trade union, 266 were dismissed en masse in one day in May. Further dismissals have occurred since then of workers who have tried to defend their rights (see here for more information).

In Rahim Yar Khan, the local union sought to unionise contract workers many of who had worked for Unilever for years. The company instantly fired all but 5 of the 292 temporary workers at the plant. They were replaced by casual agency workers, who have no legal possibility to be made permanent no matter how long they work for Unilever Pakistan (see here for more information).

Unilever Pakistan employs some 8,000 people at five factories and offices in Pakistan (these numbers do not include the Dalda factory). But of the total workforce employed in these five factories, only 509 are employed on permanent contracts. The struggle of these dismissed workers highlights the harsh reality of employment conditions at Unilever where profits are being extracted through a globally-organised policy designed to suppress workers, their rights and their conditions through unrelenting outsourcing and casualisation.

By joining their struggles, the dismissed Unilever workers of Rahim Yar Khan and Dalda are strengthening themselves and the broader labour movement in the food and beverage sector.

IUF Pakistan reports:

A three member delegation of the Action Committee of Dismissed Workers Unilever Rahim Yar Khan including Muhammad Azeem, Convener, Jahanzeb Khan, Secretary and Majid Khan, Publicity Secretary attended a meeting of National Federation of the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers (NFFBTW) and explained their struggle. The Federation appreciated their struggle and assured them all means to support their fight. The delegation presented a solidarity banner to the Dalda Foods Employees Union. The delegation also visited the camp on 25 August and showed solidarity with dismissed workers.

You can support the struggle for union rights for all workers by sending a message of solidarity to the workers through the through the IUF Pakistan office and the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers.