March 24, 2008	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 15, 1429

LAHORE, March 23: The Pakistan Labour Federation has appealed to Prime Minister-designate Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani to end privatisation and repeal the Removal of Service Ordinance after assumption office.

Federation General Secretary Haji Muhammad Saeed said this at a meeting held here on Sunday with Attiya Salim in chair.

He said that the Removal of Service Ordinance should be repealed because it had been promulgated for summary dismissal of government employees without giving them an opportunity to defend themselves. Thousands of employees were deprived of their jobs under the ordinance.

He said that discontinuation of privatisation was necessary because it had resulted in dismissal of hundreds of thousands of workers from the privatised organisations on the one hand and increase in prices of their products and services on the other.