KARACHI: Four more people became unemployed in Pakistan on record on April 25, 2008 when the world class pharmaceutical company, Merck Sharp & Dohme of Pakistan - a subsidiary of Merck & Co. Inc., USA - sacked its four business directors when they asked for compensation.

About a month a go, MSD Pakistan was sold to a locally run pharmaceutical company, OBS Pakistan. While employees of the Company came to know about this secret deal through an official announcement, they demanded of the management for third option i.e. compensation.

MDS employees were given only two options at the sell-off of the Company. The options included to continue their jobs with OBS, the buyer company, or to resign.

The employees were of the view that they should have been offered a compensation scheme like Golden Hand Shake (GHS) or Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS), as offered to employees of many companies in Pakistan at the company sell-off to third party.

UBL, PTCL, HBL, KESC and PIA are some of the public sector entities that offered GHS and VSS packages to their employees. Moreover, Bayer, BMS and GSK, pharmaceutical companies working in Pakistan, also offered different compensation packages to their employees at the change of their management, a sacked employee said.

“The national and international norms and practices reveal that when a company is sold to a third party in any part of the world, it offers compensation package to its employees. Those (employees) who are not interested to continue their job with the buyer company they are offered a smart package in accordance with the period of their services they have tended at company so far,” a sacked employee underlined.

“We have demanded of the Company management for third option, the compensation. Against this demand we received termination letter at our homes,” he said.

The termination of employees was totally against MSD and OBS commitment, which they made in an official announcement published in some sections of press on April 17, 2008. That official statement said, “MSD has announced restructuring of its operations and assured job continuity of all employees,” another terminated employee complained.

M. Tahir Iqbal, MD-MSD Pakistan, however, responded that the compensation was for employees continuing their jobs with OBS for at least next 12 months. They would be given two gross salaries as compensation. It would be other than the bonuses and benefits that they were availing along with seniority, level of responsibilities, and all those incentives and facilities that they were receiving from MSD Pakistan.

“We are of the opinion that the former directors’ behaviour is the result of their unreasonable and also unsuccessful attempts to obtain unjustified financial benefits...

“For almost one week there were numerous attempts made by executives of MSD and OBS Pakistan to convince the four directors to stay at MSD Pakistan, by pointing out attractive financial and developmental opportunities in positions of expanded responsibilities. Despite these efforts, from April 22nd to 25th, 2008 the four directors refused not only to stay and work, but jointly as a group refused any further discussion, leaving MSD Pakistan no option than to terminate them,” Iqbal added.

“Asking for compensation is our right, but the termination is not exactly the right answer, and we still demand for compensation package from MSD management,” one of sacked directors argued.

The question of four employees’ termination remained unanswered, as they were not on only four who had asked for compensation and wrote a letter to Dick Clark, Chairman, President and CEO of Merck & Co., Inc. USA.

There are around 50 employees who signed the letter, subjected petition on behalf of MSD Pakistan Employees to Clark. A copy of that letter is available with The News.

Therefore, MSD has left total 269 employees on the mercy OBS Pakistan. Out of this, the company has already dismissed four employees with one month salaries only.