---------Analysis------------
-Industrial Unrest-
Nepali private sector’s umbrella body -- the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), said at an interaction with Nepali Congress leaders recently in the capital.
The central-level trade union leaders also have been echoing similar feeling as expressed by employers saying that labor relations in business enterprises has moved in the positive direction with the number of worker-enforced strikes going down significantly this year.
On the contrary to the expressions from employers and trade union leaders, big industries located in the Pathlaiya-Birgunj industrial corridor and Hetauda Industrial Estate have been closed for few days.Ongoing labor unrest in industrial firms along the corridor over remuneration hike has challenged the perceptions of both trade union leaders and employers that industrial environment has improved.
Local trade union leaders in the industrial cluster have enforced a strike for the last few days demanding a hike in remuneration of those whose pay-scale was already higher than the freshly increased minimum remuneration. Industrialists in the areas have been resisted bowing to the demands from the workers for increasing the remuneration of such workers in line with a pay-rise of blue-color workers.
“Though industrial relations have impressively improved over the year across the country, some firms operating in the Pathlaiya-Birgunj corridor and Hetauda have challenged the existing system of collective bargaining by refusing to increase the pay of those whose remunerations is higher than the freshly-announced minimum wage,” Umesh Upadhyaya, the general secretary of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GFONT), told Republica.
Trade unions affiliated to different political parties are staging protests in over a dozen factories putting forth a demand for salary hike for all employees in proportion to the pay hike for minimum remuneration earners.
Though central-level trade unions and employer leaders have been gradually narrowing their differences and solving contentious issues in industrial relations with increasing engagement, industrial unrests are frequently disrupting business operation in local level.
“Employers and trade union leaders are able to create better industrial environment at top level but we have still problems in some enterprises at the local level due to the dishonesty of the employers who are not willing to follow existing laws,” Upadhyaya added.
The existing Labor Law stipulates that a Minimum Remuneration Fixation Committee (MRFC) comprising of representatives of the government, trade unions and employers can fix the minimum remuneration for labors where as the remuneration of higher-skilled workers should be fixed through collective bargaining.
“Delay in elections of the authorized trade unions in a number of business firms has created problems in fixing remuneration as the government is apathetic about it. Business people are taking the benefit out of the absence of authorized trade unions to delay the process of hiking remuneration of workers with higher pay-scale,” said Upadhyaya.
The Labor and Employment Conference held last year had decided to hold the elections of authorized trade unions in all business enterprises across the country before last January. However, the government has failed to get the elections held so far which has created problems in negotiations with employers to press for demands.
But employer leaders blamed the trade unions in the corridor area for not following due process for collective bargaining to demand a hike in remunerations. “Unlike in other industries, trade unions in the Pathlaiya-Birgunj corridor and Hetauda are not showing maturity by placing demands against the spirit of collective bargaining. Industries operating there are ready to pay minimum remuneration as fixed by remuneration fixation committee. But, if they (trade unions) want to get remuneration hiked for other staffs they have to follow the collective bargaining system,” said Pashupati Murarka, a vice-president of FNCCI.
Responding to the closure of industry by workers to put pressure on the management to fulfill their demands, FNCCI has already sought government intervention in the dispute invoking Section 80 of the Labor Act, so as to restore industrial environment in the country.
An FNCCI delegation that met Labor Minister Hari Prasad Neupane on Tuesday demanded enforcing of the section of the act that allows the government to issue an order to end strikes that is likely to cause a breach in the law and order situation of the country or would be contrary to the economic interest of the country or strikes commenced in essential services prescribed by the prevailing law.
The government recently increased the minimum monthly remuneration of workers by Rs 1,800 to Rs 8,000 (including Rs 2900 as allowance) and daily wages to Rs 318 from Rs 231 in recommendation of MRFC.
Issuing a statement a couple of days back, the Department of Labor stated that only the minimum remuneration was hiked in recommendation of MRFC indicating that remuneration should be reviewed through collective bargaining for other workers.
Business leaders have also announced that the institutions that are shut down by trade unions would implement the ‘no work, no pay’ system.
Out of the total 14 industries in the Birgunj-Pathlaiya corridor and some Hetauda facing closure, seven are run by the Tribeni Group and two by the Golchha Organization. The strikes have affected operations of Nu Plast, Hanuman Metal, G D Pharmaceuticals, Hama Iron and Kansai Paints along with some industries at Hetauda Industrial Estate.
In May, employers and trade unions in the Birgunj-Pathlaiya industrial corridor had together declared the area a strike free zone, a move which was widely appreciated as the positive development in restoring better industrial relation.
Around 600 small, big and medium sized firms are operating in the area providing employment to over 50,000 people.
Before issuing the declaration, both sides signed a pact that envisages shunning anti-industrial activities such as strikes and other impractical forms of agitations, following due process to settle the industrial dispute and playing constructive role from both sides to restore industrial peace in the areas.
FNCCI seek govt initiative
KATHMANDU (REPUBLICA): The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has urged the government to take serious initiatives to create an environment to resume operations of industries in Hetauda and the Pathlaiya-Birgunj corridor.
Issuing a joint statement on Thursday, firms shut down by trade unions in the areas said they couldn´t resume work even though a tripartite meeting between government officials, employers and trade union leaders had decided to continue dialogue while suspending the strikes. FNCCI has also drawn the attention of the government that industries operating in the areas will come to the brink of closure forever if the situation perpetuates. In a statement FNCCI urged the agitating trade unions to come to the negotiating table for restoring the industrial peace in the areas.
-Industrial Unrest-
PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE
KATHMANDU, Aug 8:
“We have been experiencing better industrial relations for a few months
which has made us optimistic about the possibility of a favorable
business environment. Political parties also have to walk the talk about
shunning strikes and bandas to press their demands,” was what Suraj
Vaidya, the president of Nepali private sector’s umbrella body -- the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), said at an interaction with Nepali Congress leaders recently in the capital.
The central-level trade union leaders also have been echoing similar feeling as expressed by employers saying that labor relations in business enterprises has moved in the positive direction with the number of worker-enforced strikes going down significantly this year.
On the contrary to the expressions from employers and trade union leaders, big industries located in the Pathlaiya-Birgunj industrial corridor and Hetauda Industrial Estate have been closed for few days.Ongoing labor unrest in industrial firms along the corridor over remuneration hike has challenged the perceptions of both trade union leaders and employers that industrial environment has improved.
Local trade union leaders in the industrial cluster have enforced a strike for the last few days demanding a hike in remuneration of those whose pay-scale was already higher than the freshly increased minimum remuneration. Industrialists in the areas have been resisted bowing to the demands from the workers for increasing the remuneration of such workers in line with a pay-rise of blue-color workers.
“Though industrial relations have impressively improved over the year across the country, some firms operating in the Pathlaiya-Birgunj corridor and Hetauda have challenged the existing system of collective bargaining by refusing to increase the pay of those whose remunerations is higher than the freshly-announced minimum wage,” Umesh Upadhyaya, the general secretary of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GFONT), told Republica.
Trade unions affiliated to different political parties are staging protests in over a dozen factories putting forth a demand for salary hike for all employees in proportion to the pay hike for minimum remuneration earners.
Though central-level trade unions and employer leaders have been gradually narrowing their differences and solving contentious issues in industrial relations with increasing engagement, industrial unrests are frequently disrupting business operation in local level.
“Employers and trade union leaders are able to create better industrial environment at top level but we have still problems in some enterprises at the local level due to the dishonesty of the employers who are not willing to follow existing laws,” Upadhyaya added.
The existing Labor Law stipulates that a Minimum Remuneration Fixation Committee (MRFC) comprising of representatives of the government, trade unions and employers can fix the minimum remuneration for labors where as the remuneration of higher-skilled workers should be fixed through collective bargaining.
“Delay in elections of the authorized trade unions in a number of business firms has created problems in fixing remuneration as the government is apathetic about it. Business people are taking the benefit out of the absence of authorized trade unions to delay the process of hiking remuneration of workers with higher pay-scale,” said Upadhyaya.
The Labor and Employment Conference held last year had decided to hold the elections of authorized trade unions in all business enterprises across the country before last January. However, the government has failed to get the elections held so far which has created problems in negotiations with employers to press for demands.
But employer leaders blamed the trade unions in the corridor area for not following due process for collective bargaining to demand a hike in remunerations. “Unlike in other industries, trade unions in the Pathlaiya-Birgunj corridor and Hetauda are not showing maturity by placing demands against the spirit of collective bargaining. Industries operating there are ready to pay minimum remuneration as fixed by remuneration fixation committee. But, if they (trade unions) want to get remuneration hiked for other staffs they have to follow the collective bargaining system,” said Pashupati Murarka, a vice-president of FNCCI.
Responding to the closure of industry by workers to put pressure on the management to fulfill their demands, FNCCI has already sought government intervention in the dispute invoking Section 80 of the Labor Act, so as to restore industrial environment in the country.
An FNCCI delegation that met Labor Minister Hari Prasad Neupane on Tuesday demanded enforcing of the section of the act that allows the government to issue an order to end strikes that is likely to cause a breach in the law and order situation of the country or would be contrary to the economic interest of the country or strikes commenced in essential services prescribed by the prevailing law.
The government recently increased the minimum monthly remuneration of workers by Rs 1,800 to Rs 8,000 (including Rs 2900 as allowance) and daily wages to Rs 318 from Rs 231 in recommendation of MRFC.
Issuing a statement a couple of days back, the Department of Labor stated that only the minimum remuneration was hiked in recommendation of MRFC indicating that remuneration should be reviewed through collective bargaining for other workers.
Business leaders have also announced that the institutions that are shut down by trade unions would implement the ‘no work, no pay’ system.
Out of the total 14 industries in the Birgunj-Pathlaiya corridor and some Hetauda facing closure, seven are run by the Tribeni Group and two by the Golchha Organization. The strikes have affected operations of Nu Plast, Hanuman Metal, G D Pharmaceuticals, Hama Iron and Kansai Paints along with some industries at Hetauda Industrial Estate.
In May, employers and trade unions in the Birgunj-Pathlaiya industrial corridor had together declared the area a strike free zone, a move which was widely appreciated as the positive development in restoring better industrial relation.
Around 600 small, big and medium sized firms are operating in the area providing employment to over 50,000 people.
Before issuing the declaration, both sides signed a pact that envisages shunning anti-industrial activities such as strikes and other impractical forms of agitations, following due process to settle the industrial dispute and playing constructive role from both sides to restore industrial peace in the areas.
FNCCI seek govt initiative
KATHMANDU (REPUBLICA): The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has urged the government to take serious initiatives to create an environment to resume operations of industries in Hetauda and the Pathlaiya-Birgunj corridor.
Issuing a joint statement on Thursday, firms shut down by trade unions in the areas said they couldn´t resume work even though a tripartite meeting between government officials, employers and trade union leaders had decided to continue dialogue while suspending the strikes. FNCCI has also drawn the attention of the government that industries operating in the areas will come to the brink of closure forever if the situation perpetuates. In a statement FNCCI urged the agitating trade unions to come to the negotiating table for restoring the industrial peace in the areas.
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