By Nazim Malik
Pakistan prestigious English language newspaper — Dawn — has turned to be so unfriendly with it’s employees that despite making huge revenue it continues with it’s 40 per cent cut it made to the salaries of its employees.
Although the employees more often reminds the manangment to see soaring prices of fuel and essential commodities but it seems the plea falls on deaf ears.
Dawn employees get an uncanny support from the public sector none other than but the universities public relations officers association.
The association has expressed its concern over hue and cry of journalists from Dawn and The News and members of civil society on social media regarding their low wages against the sky-rocketing inflation.
In this regard, a hybrid meeting of the association was held in which public relations officers of leading public sector universities participated the other day.
The meeting discussed that it is very hard to imagine that a salaried person can meet his everyday expenditures with the salary fixed in 2012 and 2019.
The meeting said that no worker can perform better for its organization unless one is provided with competitive salary package.
The meeting discussed that journalism is an important profession and journalists must be free from such financial pressures so that they could perform their duties in an excellent manner.
The PROs of public varsities were of the view that all the institutions have never missed daily Dawn’s name in their advertisements and therefore it seems that the volume of Dawn’s advertisement business has not considerably reduced.
The participants of the meeting were surprised to know that the reporters of The News were working for the salary fixed in 2012 while the employees of Dawn are awaiting increase in salaries since 2015.
On the other hand, a huge 40pc cut was imposed on Dawn employees in Feb 2019. It was also astonishing that Eight Wage Board was implemented in August 2021 in Dawn and that too actually reduced take home salaries of the employees of Dawn. “After discussing the whole scenario, the association has appealed to the administration of Daily Dawn and The News to increase salaries of their workers so that they could perform their duties in a good manner and meet their monthly expenditures, which has become impossible due to unprecedented increase in inflation and the existing amount of salary,” says Khuram Shahzad, Executive Member, Universities Public Relations Officers Association.
بہت زیادتی ہے ڈان اخبار کی انتظامیہ کی
— Haji Muhammad ASIF Mustafa (@Asif4905) May 30, 2022
Journalism not a crime: We raised voice, Dawn's administration must reverse 40% pay cuts immediately.
— Ahmad Abu Bakar (@AABakar) May 31, 2022
1/2 ڈان اخبار کی انتظامیہ فروری 2019 سے اپنے کارکنوں کی تنخواہوں میں چالیس فیصد کتوتی کر رہی ہے ۔ صحافی برادری کو اسکے خلاف آواز بلند کرنی چاہیے ۔ عمران گبول اپ کا مطالبہ بجا لیکن سب کے لیے آواز بلند کرنے والے صحافیوں کی کوئی آواز نہیں ۔ #media@OfficialPfuj
— Razi ud din razi (@poetrazi1) May 28, 2022
Check the sky rocketing inflation but Dawn administration is not reversing 40% pay cut and not giving yearly increment. I asked dawn workers union president to apply for BISP as it become impossible to face this inflation. @WusatUllahKhan @HamidMirPAK @KlasraRauf @Xadeejournalist
— Imran Gabol (@gabolizm) May 28, 2022
Will our journalists friends raise voice for media workers who are facing 40 per cent pay cuts in Dawn newspaper since February 2019. Will dawn administration reverse this cut and pay back hundreds of workers @HamidMirPAK @KlasraRauf @WusatUllahKhan @Xadeejournalist @ZarrarKhuhro
— Imran Gabol (@gabolizm) May 28, 2022
Mr Shahzad was of the view that since the PROs of the varsities stay in regular contact with working journalists, they should also raise voice on such matters. PAK DESTINY