The Railway Workers' Union (RWU, ) is a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

workers in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It is among the oldest and largest trade unions in the country. It is affiliated with the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation and

International Transport Workers' Federation The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is a democratic global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2017 the ITF had 677 member organizations in 149 countries, representing a combined membership o ...

Organisation

The trade union is composed of Railway Workers' Union (Open Lines) () and Railway Workers' Union (Workshops). Current office bearers in the trade union are: * Manzoor Ahmed Razi, Chairman * Ashiq Hussain Chaudhary, President * Muhammad Naseem Rao, General Secretary

History

The Railway Workers' Union was founded in 1948 by Pakistani trade union leader Mirza Mohammad Ibrahim. The poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz was elected as first Office Secretary. In 1960, RWU had 93,841 members in Pakistan. In October 1967, RWU went on strike in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

against price hikes and the unavailability of wheat. Together with a student movement, the union also protested against the dictatorship of Ayub Khan. RWU shut down rail service completely for 13 days. Hundreds of its workers and leaders were arrested in response. In the 1970s,

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...

introduced the separation of railway unions into open line and workshop sections. According to RWU's general secretary Muhammad Naseem Rao, this broke the unity of the workers. Mohammed Yousaf Baloch joined RWU in this period. In 1993, Moeen Qureshi declared the open line section of the railway an essential service, prohibiting its workers from striking. Under

Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...

, labour activity in the railway sector was again completely banned. In March 2010, RWU protested in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

against the proposed privatisation of Pakistan Railways (PR). The Workers' Party Pakistan and the

National Students Federation The National Students Federation Pakistan (NSF) is a left-wing students federation in Pakistan. In the late 1960s, NSF adopted the political line of Marxism–Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. Its predecessor, the DSF (Democratic Students Federat ...

also joined the protest. In January 2011, RWU and the Pakistan Railway Employees Union (PREM) rejected a plan to lay off 20,000 PR employees. In February 2012, RWU again protested against planned PR privatisation. In the same month, RWU protested against privatisation again together with the Railway Mehnetkash Union, the Railway Mazdoor Union and PREM. The unions also demanded that retired workers should be paid their due wages. RWU again protested against privatisation of PR together with the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation in 2014. In 2017, six RWU members were arrested for conducting a strike in Rawalpindi.

References

{{Trade unions in Pakistan navbox Transport trade unions in Pakistan Rail transport in Pakistan Railway labor unions Trade unions established in 1948 1948 establishments in Pakistan