KUJ shows concerns over non-payment of salaries to NewOne, Bol TV media workers

The Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) has expressed concerns over the delay in payment of salaries in NewsOne and Bol TV and said that the owners of the media houses should not adopt the old ways. They urged media houses owners to release salaries of the media workers timely besides clearing the withheld salaries for several months.

A statement issued by KUJ President Shahid Iqbal and General Secretary Fahim Siddiqui said that NewsOne TV has once again stopped paying salaries to its employees The company is already owed 7-month salary of its workers and now the media house did not pay the salary of May.

He said that NewsOne TV had entered into a written agreement with the journalists’ organisations in 2019 that all the dues of all the employees would be paid by April 2020, whereas, at that time, the company still had six months’ dues due but the management of the media house has not complied with the agreement and the dues of the employees reached up to seven months.

The KUJ office-bearers also expressed concern over the delay in payment of salaries in Bol News and demanded the owner Shoaib Sheikh to disburse salaries immediately. They said that Bol News has not yet paid April salary besides the non-payment of reporting allowance, fuel allowance and medical bills.

The Bol News administration has not given any increments to the media workers and continued deducting salaries since 2018.

They also demanded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb to take notice of the non-payment of salaries to the media workers. The KUJ office-bearers announced to surround media houses and owners’ houses to protest against the financial murder of the media workers.