Surya Nepal workers hold sit-in protest

KATHMANDU, APR 02 -

The Nepal Multinational Companies Workers Union (NMCWC) at Surya Nepal staged an hour-long sit-in on Sunday despite the Hetauda Appellate Court’s stay order against the planned demo.

Workers belonging to the Maoist-affiliated trade union staged the protest from 9-10 am at the country’s largest cigarette factory. They chanted slogans against the management for “not listening” to their demands. They have been agitating for the last few months demanding that the management fulfil their 11-point demand which includes a Rs 2,000 raise, an extra allowance of Rs 1,000 and gratuity of Rs 500,000.

The union had threatened to shut down the factory from Monday if the management didn’t fulfil their demands. Fearing a closure of the factory, the management went to court which issued a stay order preventing the workers from stopping operations pending a final decision and scheduled a hearing for April 5. NMCWC spokesperson Indranath Tiwari said that they had staged the sit-in for just 10 minutes to draw the management’s attention to their demands. “Respecting the court’s order, we haven’t taken any strict move, and have allowed the factory to operate smoothly,” he added. However, the

management has termed the workers’ demand unjustified as they had already received a pay hike of 57 percent over the last two years. “They have to ask themselves internally if their demands are genuine,” said Ravi KC, corporate vice-president of Surya Nepal.

Source: Kathmandu Post