Support Tahir Mehmood, general secretary of Metro Habib Employees’ Union, Pakistan

 

Support Tahir Mehmood, general secretary of Metro Habib Employees’ Union, Pakistan

Unpublished article for Landworker magazine, January 2022

If you’ve got a bit of spare time to support trade unions internationally who are struggling for their rights then please consider linking up with the campaigns page at Labour Start, which provides news from every part of the planet.

UNI Global Union federation represents over 20 million workers in 150 countries, mainly those employed in the private sector including commerce. UNI has over 900 affiliated unions, including Unite.

In March 2021, UNI Commerce began an international campaign against ‘union-busting at Metro AG stores in Pakistan following the unfair dismissal in February of Tahir Mehmood, General Secretary of Metro Habib Employees Union.’ (MHEU)

In response, Labour Start launched an online support drive that asked supporters to send to Andreas Euenheim, Chief Human Resources Officer of Metro AG, a message urging Metro Pakistan to stop denying workers’ calls for a collective bargaining agreement and to reinstate Tahir Mehmood and other dismissed trade unionists. Since 2013 every elected general secretary of MHEU has been sacked by Metro Pakistan. Mehmood was dismissed for absenteeism that occurred in 2017.

Over 7500 people responded by sending a message, thus putting pressure on Metro A.G which is a multinational German-based food wholesaler that operates in 26 countries. A new online company initiative calling for ‘Time for a New Togetherness’ was countered by unions taking photos of solidarity banners posted on social media asking Metro ‘What about Pakistan?’

Following the campaign, UNI Commerce and Metro AG have met. According to Mathias Bolton,  Head of Department for UNI Commerce, “We are happy that thousands of people around the world and trade unions from more than 30 countries responded to our call for solidarity and joined us in asking respect for trade union rights in Pakistan. Following our campaign, we held several meetings with Metro AG. We have submitted our reports and findings on the violation of trade union rights in Pakistan and we expect a positive outcome.”

In the event of Metro being forced to reinstate Mehmood and agreeing to a bargaining agreement with MHEU then this would be a considerable success for the trade union movement in Pakistan.  This can be traced back to the pre-independence period and  the introduction of railways and agriculture plantations. Following independence from British rule in 1947, most employers, largely the government, opposed the formation of trade unions but by the 1960s the government understood that to boost productivity it needed the support of workers and it offered better deals including the right to combine.

Today, just 1.8 million, around per cent of workers in Pakistan are trade union members. As in Britain, the law of the land does not encourage collective action, seeks to quell trade unionism and blocks workers from taking solidarity strike action. Many workers are on short term contracts with no fixed hours.

Labour Start

https://www.labourstart.org/news/index2019.php

https://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/actnowen.cgi?l=en

Other current campaigns at Labour Start feature Colombia, Iran, Algeria, Jordan, Puerto Rica and Myanmar.

UNIGLOBAL

https://www.uniglobalunion.org

UNITE internationally

https://www.unitetheunion.org/what-we-do/international/solidarity-work/

https://www.unitetheunion.org/what-we-do/international/european-federations/

https://www.unitetheunion.org/what-we-do/international/european-federations/