On 2 June 2020, workers from the Suki Kinari hydro construction project signed an agreement with the China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) and local government officials approving the reinstatement of 1,600 dismissed construction workers, following a 12-day blockade of a highway leading to their worksite.
It was reported that the CGGC terminated 1,600 workers, including more than 400 union members, at the start of the COVID-19 crisis in the country. As a response, the workers blocked project supplies to the hydro construction project and nearby highway construction works, leaving no cement, diesel or petrol available at the worksites.
Under Pakistani law, employers are required to pay termination benefits to workers discharged of their duties.
In May 2017, BWI submitted a complaint to the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association regarding CGGC’s behaviour on the Suki Kinari hydro construction project in which it asserts that the Pakistani government must do more to ensure that companies fully recognise workers’ rights to association and collective bargaining.
