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ECC approves firing all Pakistan Steel Mill employees

There was a talk or discussion of bringing PSM under CPEC umbrella or handing it to Russian company. I think those lines should be pursued again. First lets hope for once SCP who has taken up the PSM case petition doesn't acts as spoiler over the recent decisions.
The Russians could be a good option. There is historical connection with PSM. Plus they would like to build a strategic and better relationship with Pakistan, so they maybe ready to pay a bit "extra". Obviously rest like anything, proper check and balances should be there.
 
So maybe there is some hope? Although this report is by PSM management but they too asking to solve all matters and stay orders within short time with time limits..

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https://www.dawn.com/news/1561620/rs40bn-needed-to-clear-dues-of-7884-employees-psm

Rs40bn needed to clear dues of 7,884 employees: PSM
Nasir IqbalUpdated June 06, 2020

• Steel Mills management files report before Supreme Court
• Seeks decisions on all stay matters within a fortnight
• Requests for CEO’s appointment to execute ‘rationalisation’ plan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) management on Friday furnished a report before the Supreme Court, claiming that Rs40 billion would be required to clear liabilities of 7,884 of its 8,884 employees though on its balance sheet, the total loss to the national exchequer was around Rs230 billion.

The PSM management reported that the mills of this sort should not have more than 1,000 employees, asking the SC to order appointment of its CEO for the execution of government’s lay-off plan.

A three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, will take up the report on June 9.


In its report, the PSM management also urged the SC to order that all stay matters against the Steel Mills be decided within a fortnight and all pending litigation for or against the PSM be decided within a month or two. As on March 25, the PSM was engaged in around 671 cases pending before different judicial and quasi-judicial forums.

Besides, the apex court was requested to get Karachi’s Steel Town vacated from ‘illegal’ occupants with the assistance of law enforcement agencies.

The report explained that the PSM’s Board of Human Resource Committee (BHRC) on April 15, 2020 approved a plan to rationalise the Pakistan Steel’s Workforce. The BHRC requested the Ministry of Industries and Production to send a summary to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on behalf of the federal government to make arrangements to pay the retirement and termination dues of its employees.

The debt of employee liabilities of in-service employees related to retirement dues, including provident fund, gratuity and leave encashment, was around Rs20 billion while employee liabilities of already retired people was another Rs20 billion.

Till date, the report explained, approximately Rs30 billion from the date of Steel Mills closure had been paid to its employees for net salaries, excluding the benefits and retirement dues etc. Since 2008, about Rs92 billion out of public money had been paid to the PSM employees, stated the report, which was moved by Advocate Syed Nayyar Abbas Rizvi on behalf of the Steel Mills management.

The Steel Mills, which has been shut down since 2015, had around 15,000 employees at the time of its closure.

Currently, the PSM is in a shutdown state bearing heavy losses, which resulted in accumulated liabilities thus causing huge deficit issues for both government and the organisation itself. The salaries of the employees had been paid by the government as an interest bearing loan resulting in a total accumulated debt of Rs229 billion by the end of 2019, the report said.

The report explained that the expenditure incurred on the monthly salary bill of the employees as well as accrued against different integrated heads of accounts had sky-rocketed and spiralled out of control, though way to late, serious considerations were required to bring a semblance of rationality to the wages and other expenditures of the mills.

The PSM management urged the SC to direct the federal government to immediately appoint CEO of the Steel Mills so that he could oversee the execution of the employees’ rationalisation plan and look after its day-to-day affairs. For more than a year, an official of the Ministry of Industries has the additional charge of PSM’s CEO.

The report mentioned that PSM at its inception had acquired 18,642 acres of land out of which 10,000 acres were retained for the Steel Mills inclusive other industries and 8,000 acres for the Steel Town. The Steel Mills management requested the SC to supervise an operation to get Steel Town vacated from ‘illegal’ occupants with the assistance of the law enforcement agencies.

The PSM management informed the apex court that the Steel Mills had seen many highs and lows since its inauguration in 1973-74, explaining that there had been periods of steady growth, high production and profitability as well.

The Steel Mills had accumulated profits in excess of Rs26.2 billion and operated at over 75 per cent capacity utilisation between 2004 and 2008.

The report requested the apex court to order that all stay matters pending against the PSM be decided within a fortnight, whereas all pending litigation for and against the PSM be decided within one or two months.

As on March 25, 2020 the PSM was involved in around 671 cases pending before different judicial and quasi-judicial forums.

In August 2006, a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court had reversed the sale of the Steel Mills by holding its privatisation process as an act done in indecent haste.
 
Funny thing is those people who are criticizing the government for this decision do not even provide an alternate solution.

So what should the government do? Keep the mill closed and keep paying the employee salaries till all of them retire? Or try and sell the mill with 10,000 employees when the total employable workforce is hardly 1000? Who in their right mind would buy such a mill? Or run it at severe loss where it's expenses are far greater than the revenue it can earn? What should the government do? It's easy to criticize everything why not give a solution? The thread has been running for 9-10 pages with poster after poster crying as if they themselves have lost their jobs yet not one solution to the issue.

That's like you going to buy a car and the dealer sells you car with the body rusted, severe engine misfiring and no wheels. Would you buy such a car?

Bhai aqal ki baat kiya karo. Parh likh gaye ho leken ta'aleem hasil nahi ki hai.

Privatization solving all the problems is a stupid myth

In many cases, privatization makes things worse because private companies don't have the resources of a well run government enterprise. Even a badly run government enterprise can and should be reformed because once it is fixed, well run government companies are always better than well run private companies, and are better for the country.

Steel mill being run badly all these years is the product of extreme government mismanagement, but the solution is not to fire everyone and sell it to the private market.

Steel mill is an extremely valuable and important gov't asset and the real solution would have been to completely overhaul the steel mill, improve, upgrade, and restore it, and install better gov't management and oversight. Then it can become a useful asset to Pakistan kept under gov't control.

Instead gov't shot themselves in the foot by giving away a valuable asset to private market for basically free and still has to keep paying fired employees for nothing who don't work there anymore.

Basically this is one of the dumbest moves I've ever seen.

Overhauling steel mill, keeping all employees, and keeping PSM under gov't ownership would've been cheaper than paying pensions of fired employees and selling steel mill for dirt cheap and then losing a valuable gov't asset.

Height of incompetence that gov't is essentially paying private sector to take a valuable asset away from them, then instead of paying employees for working, gov't fires everyone and keeps paying them for NOT working. Amazing level of stupidity that gov't would rather pay pension for no work than salary for work, same money they are using to pay pension for fired employees that don't work anymore could have been used to overhaul steel mill and keep everyone employed and keep PSM as an asset of gov't. Instead of fixing steel mill themselves, gov't would rather throw PSM to the dogs of private sector for free and fire everyone while losing a valuable asset. Nice work.

Absolute dumbest people in charge of this gov't
 
Privatization solving all the problems is a stupid myth

In many cases, privatization makes things worse because private companies don't have the resources of a well run government enterprise. Even a badly run government enterprise can and should be reformed because once it is fixed, well run government companies are always better than well run private companies, and are better for the country.

Steel mill being run badly all these years is the product of extreme government mismanagement, but the solution is not to fire everyone and sell it to the private market.

Steel mill is an extremely valuable and important gov't asset and the real solution would have been to completely overhaul the steel mill, improve, upgrade, and restore it, and install better gov't management and oversight. Then it can become a useful asset to Pakistan kept under gov't control.

Instead gov't shot themselves in the foot by giving away a valuable asset to private market for basically free and still has to keep paying fired employees for nothing who don't work there anymore.

Basically this is one of the dumbest moves I've ever seen.

Overhauling steel mill, keeping all employees, and keeping PSM under gov't ownership would've been cheaper than paying pensions of fired employees and selling steel mill for dirt cheap and then losing a valuable gov't asset.

Height of incompetence that gov't is essentially paying private sector to take a valuable asset away from them, then instead of paying employees for working, gov't fires everyone and keeps paying them for NOT working. Amazing level of stupidity that gov't would rather pay pension for no work than salary for work, same money they are using to pay pension for fired employees that don't work anymore could have been used to overhaul steel mill and keep everyone employed and keep PSM as an asset of gov't. Instead of fixing steel mill themselves, gov't would rather throw PSM to the dogs of private sector for free and fire everyone while losing a valuable asset. Nice work.

Absolute dumbest people in charge of this gov't
If a part deatroyed by cancer then u have to cut it off.

PSM political employees are largely responsible for it destruction. If it is destroyed by the same employees how do u expect them to revive them.
 
@BHarwana @waz @Irfan Baloch

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/ecc-approves-firing-all-pakistan-steel-mill-employees.669458/

Merge. Obvious mal-intent/ diversion for the current geopolitical situation. Shouldn't Indians be worried about their border situation right now? Or the migrant corona situation, where people are eating dead dogs on the street?

Imran khan should get a certificate of U-Turn specialist

Leave that to us, we know how to tackle our internal politics. We never asked you to start calling your Modiji "Certified Chooroo" when he was claiming for 5Trillion economy, nor did we ask you to start calling Rahul Gandhi "Pappu" for whatever reasons.
 
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