KARACHI: The management of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSM) has announced the retrenchment of some 4,544 employees with immediate effect under its restructuring/revival programme aimed at reducing the financial burden on the country's largest steel-making plant.
The spokesman for PSM confirmed that the management of PSM has decided to terminate the employment of over 4,000 employees with immediate effect. According to PSM management, all workforce in pay Groups II, III, IV and Junior Officers of Administration and Personal (A&P) directorate and department are being terminated. However, teachers, lecturers, non-teaching staff of schools and colleges, drivers, firemen, fire tender operators, health workers, security guards, watchmen, mali's (gardeners), head malis, Para-medical Staff, canteen staff (cooks, bearers, waiters, head cooks), office attendants and workmen of Finance Directorate (All Departments) will not be terminated.
In addition, junior office (PSE-I) of Finance Directorate (All Departments), corporate secretariat, CP&I, iron and steel making department, law, security and A&P Department will remain retained due to their necessity on job.
Officers of the cadre of assistant manager and deputy manager are also be retrenched. However, those in CEO Secretariat, security, medical and PSM hospital, education department, professional degree holders (i.e., BE/B.Sc. (Eng.)/BS/MCS/MPA/MBA/ACMA/ICMA & M.Com), finance directorate (all departments), A&P deptt., corporate secretariat, CP&I deptt., civil maintenance department., central design bureau, zonal office Islamabad and protocol department, will be retained.
Moreover, deputy chief engineer, deputy general manager, superintendent engineer, managers are being terminated except those who are in the fields of education, medical, A&P or posted in essentially required areas of PSM.
The spokesman also said the individual letters of retrenchment are being dispatched to all retrenched employees through registered post.
Sources said the strength of PSM's overall workforce was of 8,500 and with termination of some 4,544 employees the salary budget of mills will be reduced over 50 percent to Rs 170 million. The steel-making operations of the country's largest steel plant are shut since June 2015 due to unavailability of the required gas pressure from Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), which has claimed that PSM owes to it Rs 62 billion. They said that in the second phase in December, services of more employees will be terminated. Currently, overall liabilities of the mills stand at over Rs 300 billion with an operating loss of Rs 16 billion in 2018-19 alone.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020