Workers shut down Unilever

FEB 07 -

Unilever Nepal has been shut down since Sunday by striking workers over a wage dispute. The company said in a press statement that the workers went on strike to force the management to fulfil their demands despite earning salaries much higher than a qualified Gazetted First Class Officer of the government.

Unilever Nepal produces toilet soaps including Lux and Lifebuoy and toothpastes like Pepsodent and Close-Up.

The agitating workers had asked the company, among other things, to increase their salaries and allowances by 50 percent and provide them Rs 1 million as an interest-free housing loan and Rs 100,000 per year per person for house maintenance. The company paid Rs 764 in taxes to the government in the fiscal year 2010-11.

The company management said it had held numerous rounds of negotiations with the representatives of the workers, and had offered a handsome benefit package. This additional benefit was offered over and above the increases in the workers’ total remuneration increment during the period 2009 to 2011. “During this period, workers’ total remuneration increased 69 percent while the company’s profit increased 37.3 percent,” said the statement.

“However, the representatives of the workers were intransigent, unwilling to be moved from their irrational and unreasonably high demand and sticking to their final demand of an increase of about Rs. 21,000 per month per worker and proceeded to strike,” added the statement.

Source: Kantipur