Protesting media workers lock up offices of Dunya Group

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 4 September 2019

Media workers in Lahore protested against layoffs at Dunya Group, locking the offices to demand the reinstatement of affected employees. The protest highlighted issues of unequal pay among journalists.

Summary

LAHORE — Media workers in Lahore have protested the layoffs of employees by Dunya Group, the protesters locking up the news organization’s offices for a few hours.

Dunya managers had laid off over 70 employees recently, that prompted calls from union leaders for their reinstatement.

However, those calls fell on deaf ears, and the Lahore Press Club and other journalist bodies staged a sit-in in front of the Dunya Group offices after marching from the club.

Speaking at the protest the leaders said that the so-called problems media owners face today are because of their unfair distribution of wages. They pointed out that while some staffers like some program presenters were paid tons of money, but others got peanuts.

The journalists' bodies have announced locking up the offices of City 42 and 24 News Television on September 6. They warned the media houses that if all laid-off employees were not unconditionally reinstated, they would enhance the intensity of their protests.

Meanwhile, the International Federation of Journalists said on Wednesday that it stands in solidarity with the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and Dunya News' media workers. “Workers' rights must be respected, and we urge the media's management to work with journalists' leaders in addressing their demands and settling the dispute through dialogue."