Daily Times

The Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC) illegally deducted more than Rs 35,000 from the salaries of employees every month.

There are more than 700 permanent employees serving in Rawalpindi Waste Management Company (RWMC). The company deducts Rs 50 as union fund from the salary of every employee whether he is a member of the union or not. This amount is given to the trade union Municipal Workers League of RWMC through cheque or bank transaction.

Sources said that the authorities did not take any approval from the employees for the deduction of union funds, while according to law, the authorities should have to take affidavit from the employees before any deduction.

The employees of the RWMC requested the managing director of the company multiple times to stop this illegal deduction but due to the political influence he kept a blind eye toward this matter.

According to a letter by the Registrar Trade Unions Rawalpindi, there are two trade unions registered with RWMC, Municipal Labour Union and Municipal Workers League.

Municipal Workers League was elected as Collective Bargaining Agent in 2015 for two years, whose tenure is expired in 2017. But despite the expiry of their tenure from almost the last two years, the RWMC authorities deduct from the salaries of employees and give it to union leaders.

Union leader Nisar Kiyani says the authorities have illegally deducted about Rs 800,000 during the last two years from the salaries of employees only to please the office bearer of a particular trade union.

“We demand from the secretary local government to take notice of the matter and order the RWMC authorities to immediately stop the deduction and recover the deducted amount,” he said.

Labour union former general secretary Parvez Cheeda said, deduction from the salaries of employees without their willingness is illegal, it should be stopped immediately and third party audit should be conducted for the last two years.

When contacted, Municipal Workers League President Haji Farooq confirmed that their union receives fund from the RWMC authorities every month but this fund is utilised for the welfare of the workers.

Despite repeated attempts, RWMC Managing Director Rizwan Sherdil could not be approached for comment while the other officers of the company refused to comment on the matter.

Published in Daily Times, November 17^th 2018.