Morang-Sunsari industries bear the brunt of double wage pacts
BIRATNAGAR, July 23:
The long-running dispute over pay has continued to mire industries located along the Morang-Sunsari Industrial Corridor, affecting their operations as well as exports from one of the largest industrial areas of the country.
As if that were not enough, more than 10 fringe local trade unions got together and threatened with an indefinite shutdown if the private sector did not fulfil their pay demand.
The dispute has heightened particularly after the government imposed on the insistence of local trade unions a separate pay structure, which is higher than what the apex business bodies - Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) - agreed with three big trade unions.
Local trade unions demand employers to implement the pay they agreed with the government in May. However, employers said they cannot sustain it and have preferred to stick to the scale the business bodies agreed with big three unions in April.
As a result of the dispute, Surya Nepal - the leading garment manufacturer and exporter to India - has been forced to shut operations for more than a month. Its workers affiliated with Madhesh-based trade unions have refused to return to work, demanding the management to first settle the wages for the period when they were on strike in April. The management, on the other hand, has clarified it will not pay wages for the period when its production was halted.
“Surya Nepal is just one example of how the existence of dual pay structure has troubled industries in the corridor,” said Dinesh Golchha, president of Morang Industries Association. According to him, large trade unions are asking industries to implement the wage pact they jointly signed with FNCCI and CNI. Local unions, however, are demanding implementation of agreement they signed with the government.
Such contradictory demands have persistently left the employers confused, jeopardizing industrial relations for more than three months. “Unfortunately, no authority has shown sensibility to resolve the mess, and we cannot satisfy both groups of the trade unions,” said Golchha.
The first agreement of pay hike, which set the minimum wage of workers at Rs 226 per day and Rs 6,100 per month, had come into implementation in April after FNCCI and CNI reached an understanding with Nepal Trade Union Congress, which is close to Nepali Congress, General Federation of Nepalese Trade unions of CPN (UML) and All Nepal Trade Unions Federation of UCPN (Maoist).
However, seven local Madhesh-based trade unions protested the agreement, mainly arguing that an agreement reached without taking their viewpoint into account was not acceptable to them. Irked over not recognizing their force, they even launched a strike, forcing the government to sign a separate pay hike agreement in May.
The new agreement not only decided to set the minimum wages at Rs 231 per day and Rs 6,200 per month but also promised the agitating workers to pay for the period when they were on strike.
“The agreement signed between us and the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management was published in the government´s gazette on May 23. Still the employers are not ready to implement it,” said Bipin Karn, the secretary of Madheshi Trade Union Forum.
FNCCI and CNI have said they do not recognize this agreement as it was signed without their participation in the talks and approval. They even issued circulars to the industries throughout the country not to implement the new pay structure.
Following such stalemate, more than 10 Madhesh-based trade unions have started fresh protests against the employers´ decision.
As part of the protest, which is being carried out as the first phase of the agitation, workers in the corridor are protesting by wearing black bandage and holding a black flag at work from Friday. They have said they will continue to intensify such peaceful protest by organizing sit-ins till July 30.
“If the management still does not pay heed to our demand, we will launch indefinite industrial shutdown from July 31,” said Karn.
Source: Republica
The long-running dispute over pay has continued to mire industries located along the Morang-Sunsari Industrial Corridor, affecting their operations as well as exports from one of the largest industrial areas of the country.
As if that were not enough, more than 10 fringe local trade unions got together and threatened with an indefinite shutdown if the private sector did not fulfil their pay demand.
The dispute has heightened particularly after the government imposed on the insistence of local trade unions a separate pay structure, which is higher than what the apex business bodies - Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) - agreed with three big trade unions.
Local trade unions demand employers to implement the pay they agreed with the government in May. However, employers said they cannot sustain it and have preferred to stick to the scale the business bodies agreed with big three unions in April.
As a result of the dispute, Surya Nepal - the leading garment manufacturer and exporter to India - has been forced to shut operations for more than a month. Its workers affiliated with Madhesh-based trade unions have refused to return to work, demanding the management to first settle the wages for the period when they were on strike in April. The management, on the other hand, has clarified it will not pay wages for the period when its production was halted.
“Surya Nepal is just one example of how the existence of dual pay structure has troubled industries in the corridor,” said Dinesh Golchha, president of Morang Industries Association. According to him, large trade unions are asking industries to implement the wage pact they jointly signed with FNCCI and CNI. Local unions, however, are demanding implementation of agreement they signed with the government.
Such contradictory demands have persistently left the employers confused, jeopardizing industrial relations for more than three months. “Unfortunately, no authority has shown sensibility to resolve the mess, and we cannot satisfy both groups of the trade unions,” said Golchha.
The first agreement of pay hike, which set the minimum wage of workers at Rs 226 per day and Rs 6,100 per month, had come into implementation in April after FNCCI and CNI reached an understanding with Nepal Trade Union Congress, which is close to Nepali Congress, General Federation of Nepalese Trade unions of CPN (UML) and All Nepal Trade Unions Federation of UCPN (Maoist).
However, seven local Madhesh-based trade unions protested the agreement, mainly arguing that an agreement reached without taking their viewpoint into account was not acceptable to them. Irked over not recognizing their force, they even launched a strike, forcing the government to sign a separate pay hike agreement in May.
The new agreement not only decided to set the minimum wages at Rs 231 per day and Rs 6,200 per month but also promised the agitating workers to pay for the period when they were on strike.
“The agreement signed between us and the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management was published in the government´s gazette on May 23. Still the employers are not ready to implement it,” said Bipin Karn, the secretary of Madheshi Trade Union Forum.
FNCCI and CNI have said they do not recognize this agreement as it was signed without their participation in the talks and approval. They even issued circulars to the industries throughout the country not to implement the new pay structure.
Following such stalemate, more than 10 Madhesh-based trade unions have started fresh protests against the employers´ decision.
As part of the protest, which is being carried out as the first phase of the agitation, workers in the corridor are protesting by wearing black bandage and holding a black flag at work from Friday. They have said they will continue to intensify such peaceful protest by organizing sit-ins till July 30.
“If the management still does not pay heed to our demand, we will launch indefinite industrial shutdown from July 31,” said Karn.
Source: Republica
