JournalismPakistan.com
September 07, 2012
Aliya Nishan-e-Haider

LAHORE:  As the employees at Daily Times toil, the Taseers continue to dilly-dally on staff salaries, not paid for the last three months.

The employers claim they are going through a 'crisis' but those in the know point out their lifestyle hasn’t changed.

According to an insider, Rs 5.6 million was spent on hosting a party at the launch of Zaiqa TV, a food channel the Taseers own.

An angry Daily Times staffer said on the one hand the Taseers are decorated with human rights awards, on the other they feed on their workers' hard-earned money.

"It's a shame that for Shaharyar Taseer the quality of the newsprint and printing matters more than paying what he owes to his employees,” said one former staff member.

"There is also no crisis in the other companies run by the Taseers. They exploit their employees knowing there aren't many jobs in the market,” he said.

A press worker at the newspaper said: "We were told the office was running out of money so we should get diesel from PSO filling station on credit. When the staff there refused to give us fuel, our officials immediately released cash."

Some of the former Daily Times employees not paid their dues have taken the Taseers to court and hope to win the case in the next few months.

Another employee said: ''We have decided to play on the front foot. From now on we will not stay quiet but will reach people through the social media and let everyone know Taseers are playing dirty.”

(The views expressed in the story are not necessarily those of JournalismPakistan.com)