Report in which the committee requests to be kept informed of development - Report No 246, November 1986

1. 167. At its meeting in May 1986, after several reminders and an urgent appeal had been addressed to the Government for its observations on the allegations of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), the Committee, in accordance with its procedure, examined this case in substance in the absence of a reply from the Government. Its conclusions (see 244th Report, paras. 64 to 77) were approved by the Governing Body at its 233rd Session (May-June 1986).
2. 168. Immediately after the Committee's consideration of the case the Government's reply contained in a communication dated 12 May 1986 was received. The Committee, accordingly, decided to examine the case again at its next meeting.
3. 169. Pakistan has ratified both the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No.087) and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No.098); it has not ratified the Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No. 151).

A. Previous examination of the case

1. 170. In its previous examination of this case, the Committee noted that the subject of the complaint - prohibition on the right to form unions and undertake trade union activities in the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) - had already been considered in an earlier case, where the prohibition had been imposed by Martial Law Regulation No. 52 of 1981. The Committee, in May 1986, observed that the Government had repealed the Regulation, but had replaced it by an amendment to the PIAC Act which, by declaring PIAC employees to be civil servants, has the same practical effect of denying them certain trade union rights.
2. 171. A further allegation in the case related to a provision in the PIAC Amendment Ordinance which empowers the Corporation to dismiss employees without giving reasons and without appeal to the courts.
3. 172. The Governing Body, on the Committee's recommendation, approved the following conclusions in May-June 1986:
   • a) The Committee deplores the fact that the Government has not sent its observations on this case in spite of several requests to do so. The Committee has therefore been obliged to examine the case in the absence of these observations.
   • b) The Committee considers that the amendment to the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Act, which deems all PIAC employees to be civil servants and thus denies them the right to form unions or carry out union activities, violates Articles 2 and 3 of Convention No. 87.
   • c) The Committee urges the Government to initiate appropriate action to amend the PIA Corporation Act so as to allow the workers concerned to establish and join organisations of their own choosing which can function freely to defend their members' occupational interests.
   • d) The Committee considers that the amendment to the same Act which empowers the employer to dismiss or compulsorily retire PIAC workers without giving reasons and without any appeal is contrary to Articles 1 and 2 of Convention No. 98.
   • e) The Committee urges the Government to take the necesary measures so as to ensure that the employer may not dismiss workers for trade union reasons and to provide for an appeal to the courts.
   • f) The Committee draws this case to the attention of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations.

B. The Government's reply

1. 173. In its communication of 12 May 1986, the Government describes the background which had led to the introduction of Martial Law Regulation No. 52 in 1981 and its successive extensions until 30 June 1985. The Government points out that drastic measures had been necessary to counteract the fact that weak administration, financial irregularities and militant trade unionism had seriously affected the operational safety, efficiency and profitability of the airline. It states that, under Regulation No. 52, the PIAC management had been able to dismiss surplus employees with normal terminal benefits being paid and take other measures to restore discipline and efficiency which had so seriously deteriorated that, for example, there had been one case of hijacking and another of destruction of an aircraft with the connivance of PIAC employees.
2. 174. According to the Government, the situation in PIAC was kept under constant review and, when it was decided to lift martial law in the country, it was considered that an alternative legal framework should be available as there was little prospect of healthy trade union activities in PIAC. The PIAC Act was therefore suitably amended to grant reasonable powers to the management to terminate the employment of undisciplined and unproductive employees and to exempt the Corporation from the application of the Industrial Relations Ordinance. The Government states that, although the trade unions are banned under the amended law, the management of PIAC is keeping close contact with professional associations and welfare bodies of the employees. As regards the redress of grievances, the employees have been given the right to a personal hearing after a show-cause notice. The management is also required to serve three months' notice to an employee before terminating his services. The employees will be eligible to file an appeal before the Service Tribunal, and from there to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. They then have recourse to two high judicial bodies for redress of their grievances.
3. 175. As regards the continuing ban on trade union activities on PIAC, even after more than five years the Government states that it firmly believes in the workers' right to freedom of association. It was this belief which prompted it to ratify Conventions Nos. 87 and 98. According to the Government, the law of the land - namely, the Industrial Relations Ordinance - gives full protection to this right, when it states that workers shall have the right to establish and join associations, of their own choosing, without previous authorisation. The extent to which this right is exercised by the workers of Pakistan is evidenced by the fact that, besides a number of unregistered unions, there are at present 6,170 trade unions in the country with a membership of 0.86 million. These workers are engaged in trade union activities and have other institutional arrangements such as shop stewards, works councils and collective bargaining agents (the latter numbering 1,400 in different establishments throughout the country). Out of the more than 6.5 million industrial workers in Pakistan, the present strength of PIAC employees is 18,678. According to the Government, of these, about 12,300 employees would be entitled to take part in trade union activities if the same were allowed to them. The Government stresses that it is due to the reasons stated above that the right of association has temporarily been withdrawn and restrictions placed on a tiny minority consisting of 12,261 PIAC employees. It concludes that since this is a forced measure taken in the supreme national interest, it may not be taken to constitute a gross violation of Convention No. 87.
4. 176. In addition, the Government explains that in order to forestall terrorist action, it has undertaken a number of security measures to protect PIAC aircraft from hijacking, including the establishment of a security agency called the Airport Security Force (ASF). Trade union activities are not allowed in this agency. It states that, since the employees of both the ASF and the PIAC work on the same premises, the granting of freedom of association to one organisation (i.e. PIAC) and denial to the other (i.e. ASF) would greatly jeopardise the Government's efforts to protect the lives of the travelling public and to guarantee the safety of airports and aircrafts. Citing a recent bomb explosion at Peshawar airport, the Government maintains that it cannot forsake its supreme responsibility to protect the lives of its citizens for the sake of a few thousand employees who have been denied their right of association only temporarily.
5. 177. Lastly, the Government also refers to the financial and political impact of more than 3 million refugees who have entered the country and the sabotage activities which are aimed at pressuring the Government to change its stance on certain political issues. It states that, in the circumstances, it would not be wise to leave loopholes in the Government's overall policy in dealing with anti-State elements.
6. 178. In conclusion the Government confirms that Martial Law has been lifted as of January 1986 and that the civilian government composed of elected representatives hopes that the easing of external tensions and the working of democratic institutions will help create the circumstances in which bans on trade union activities in certain organisations will serve no useful purpose. It reaffirms that the PIAC employees will have full trade union rights once conditions in the Corporation so permit.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 179. The Committee has taken due note of the Government's detailed explanation and reasons put forward for the continuing ban on the creation of trade unions and trade union activities in the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation. In particular, the Committee takes note of the Government's affirmation that the prohibition, contained in the PIAC Act as amended, is only temporary and will be lifted once conditions in the Corporation so permit.
2. 180. In the first place, the Committee considers that the Government has not substantiated the argument which it attempts to advance, that the serious problems which beset the airline (including weak management, inefficiency and sabotage) might have been due to the existence of a trade union or the exercise of trade union activity. The Committee can therefore only express its regret that for over five years the employees of the Corporation have been denied the possibility of exercising their trade union rights. In its previous examination of this case, the Committee recalled that in the earlier case on the same matter (Case No. 1075, in which definitive conclusions were reached in the 218th Report, paras. 273 to 285, November 1982) it had considered similar arguments put forward by the Government to justify this so-called temporary ban, but reached the conclusion that such restrictions, even if only of a temporary nature, constitute an infringement of freedom of association. It was also recalled that the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations had found this prohibition under martial law to be contrary to Convention No. 87.
3. 181. At the present juncture, the Committee considers that no new facts have been presented to justify a change in its earlier conclusions on this case, namely that, given the terms of Articles 2 and 3 of Convention No. 87, which provides that workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever (including all public servants), shall have the right to join organisations of their own choosing and that these organisations shall be able to exercise their activities in full freedom. The Committee would, accordingly, urge the Government to initiate appropriate action to amend the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Act so as to restore full trade union rights to the workers concerned and to permit any organisation which they may establish to freely exercise its activities in the defence and promotion of their occupational interests. In drawing this aspect of the case to the attention of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, the Committee would request the Government to keep it informed of the steps taken to restore full trade union rights to PIAC workers.
4. 182. As regards the provision in the amended Act empowering the Corporation to dismiss employees without giving reasons and without appeal to the courts, the Committee now has the benefit of the Government's description of the grievance procedure. According to the provision in new section 10(2) (which was reproduced in the previous examination of the case), it appears that aggrieved employees will be eligible, as civil servants, to appeal to one of the Service Tribunals which are established by the President and chaired by a person qualified to be a High Court Judge. Although the Service Tribunals Act, 1973, makes no reference to the possibility of appeal to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Committee observes that, according to the Government, an appeal to the Supreme Court is possible thereafter.