BWI
Building and Wood
Workers' International
Pakistani union wins big victory for workers’ wages
Workers building a World Bank-funded dam in Tarbela, Pakistan will receive additional wages,
thanks to the efforts of a BWI-af liated trade union federation in the country.
According to the Pakistan Federation of Building and Wood Workers (PFBWW), the country’s
labour department earlier this month ordered Sinohydro Corporation, the company tasked to
build the Tarbela Dam Project, to provide its 650 workers additional wages amounting to PKR 70
million (USD 444,870) for working during holidays. This was after PFBWW and the site-level
Awami Labour Union (ALU) complained that the said workers were asked to work during the
provincial government’s implementation of a COVID-19 lockdown.
PFBWW explained that the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa declared as public
holidays the lockdown period from 24 March until the end of May 2020. However, Sinohydro’s
workers who continued to work during the lockdown received wages not compliant with the