A strike by workers at Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has yet to come to a resolution, and is disrupting industry across Pakistan.
Workers at KESC have been taking strike action for over a month, with negotiations between the workers' union and management reaching deadlock. A solidarity strike called by several political parties last week which caused significant disruption to the local economy and which saw violent clashes failed to move management to seeking a resolution.
The ongoing strike by the privatised power company's staff is causing three to four outages daily, and power supply is likely to be badly affected should the strike be ongoing during the summer rains.
Manufacturing is being affected across Pakistan as suppliers and industrial sites around Karachi see local power outages going unfixed for days.
The strike revolves around the retrenchment of around 4,000 KESC staff fired earlier in the year, and has seen a relentless media campaign by KESC management against the strikers. In return, a number of acts of sabotage have been committed against substations and power lines to strengthen the strike.
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