September 1st, 2014
‘All the workers of the world unite’, we say. We talk about empathy for fellow workers; slogan-“An injury to one is an injury to all!” If we fight among ourselves, among the citizens and workers of the same country, will we have moral standing to shout the slogan of global unity of the workers? If we are not able to forge solidarity among ourselves, how can we have solidarity among workers of our country? Will we have moral ground to ask JTUCC affiliated unions to unite? Therefore, the first condition of the labour movement is internal unity! House should be in proper order. Only then can we bring national labour movement in track. We can then mobilise South Asia’s SARTUC; we can then play a significant role in ITUC-AP; and, then we can sing the slogan of global unity.
Five years ago, while celebrating the 20th Founding Day of GEFONT, I had quoted the then GEFONT Chairman Comrade Mukunda Neupane: “In that rainy day of July, disguising the search and warrant of the then brutal autocratic Panchayat dictatorship, we converged together and proudly declared ‘now a coordinating mechanism for trade unions has been launched in Nepal’. It was the establishment of GEFONT to address a long-felt need of the nation.” I had also spoken of the context and the changes Nepali society had seen and achieved, including the changes in the world of work, during the 20 years of our struggle.
After 5 years, today, there are not significant differences from those points of my address. I will not repeat the history. I will not dwell into the analysis of the situation leading to GEFONT’s establishment. To add to the changing context over the time, which I then referred to, we have achieved the seemingly impossible dream of a republic.
Together, we can proudly declare: Transformation is possible!
Today, I would like to remember two of our founders- Com. Madhav Neupane and Com. Nooru Wangxu Sherpa. Comrades you are not with us today, but your spirit is in this hall, all over Nepal and world, embedded in movements to fulfil the dreams that we had cherished together. I want to express my gratitude to Com. Prakash Nepali who provided us with his home to launch GEFONT ignoring possible cruel suppression of the then tyrannical regime. Thank you Comrade Nepali! Let me thank Com. Binod Shrestha for managing such a safe house to launch our great organisation. I thank Com. Lalit Basnet, our Founding President, Hari P Sharma, Jyotilal Ban and Raju Silwal. Comrades, I recall, you all were attending the GEFONT founding meeting. Thank you Com. Chudamani Jangali and Loknath Pandey for bearing the responsibility of founding membership. Com. Mukunda Neupane and Com. Pradip Nepal were the mastermind of GEFONT establishment! I still remember your sincere efforts given to establish GEFONT were even questioned by the party in which you were leaders. Dear Comrades, I offer my heartfelt thanks to you. Time has proved you were perfectly right and those questioning fingers were wrong! Dear audience, kindly give a big hand to our dear comrades. Thank you!
Comrades,
I ask your permission to bring back you again to the 20th Founding Day Ceremony of five years ago. Making a departure from some sort of interpretation of ‘class struggle’ as “establishment of a classless society by wiping out a class of opposite interests”; we had underlined that social transformation – a radical change of the complex of class exploitation and social oppression – is possible only through the unity of several social groups. As we said so we were referring to the specific character of Nepali revolution.
After 5 years, today, we have walked past the people’s uprising of 2006, soon transformed into a peaceful peoples’ revolution, which was really original to Nepali reality both in terms of the extent and leadership. It did not subscribe to the so-called European or Chinese model. This revolution was possible through collaboration between two competing classes – the class of the haves and that of the have-nots! It brought about a historical political change, but is yet to trigger a social and cultural transformation. The movement concluded with the establishment of rights, but is yet to create an environment in which the rights can be realised. Most important, the hegemony of the anti-working class is yet to end.
Therefore, today, on this occasion of Silver Jubilee I am not going to detail social changes. Allow me, however, to elaborate with an example how the dream that we had just five year ago, not 25, has been shattered and the agents of change, like us, have been disheartened.
May I request former General Secretaries of GEFONT, Com. Binod Shrestha and Com. Umesh Upadhyaya, Deputy Member of ILO Governing Body Com. Binda Pandey and former Deputy Member Brother Laxman Basnet to help me out here? Kindly come to the podium. May I request you to unveil the stand? Thank you. What is written here is “Ratify ILO 87and a figure- 10.1:20:20!”
Right Honourable Chairperson,
Five years ago when we were celebrating the 20th Anniversary you were our Guest of Honour. We had handed over a demand letter to constitutionally guarantee the right to organise and social security for the working class. We were encouraged when you assured us of your full support from legislature-parliament and Constituent Assembly (CA). Ratification of ILO Convention 87 was related to our demand.
For a reminder I would like to mention the meeting of Rt. honourable Chairperson with the then Director of ILO – ACTRAV, Don Cunniah- in your office in Singhadurbar. The meeting was about ILO C. 87 ratification. Today, we repeat our request for your support to ratify the same Convention. We would now like to hand over a letter arguing why Nepal should ratify the Convention.
In the first meeting of the CA this year, the CA members representing the trade union sector and the three major political parties had requested you to arrange a discussion in Full House to propose a Resolution of commitment. In the past four years, the CA did not introduce a bill on implementation of social security despite the national budget allocating funds to that end. The budget levies one percent social security tax on workers’ pay. Over years, the tax has accumulated into billions of rupees. It is a serious concern that the bill agreed by the government, employers and workers has not moved from Singhadurbar, the government building, to reach Parliament in Baneshwor. To resolve this problem we had proposed a resolution. It is sad that we were not provided with a time slot to present the proposal in parliament. We would like to take this opportunity to request Rt. honourable Chairperson to extend your support to establish a law for implementation of the social security fund. We rest assured that honourable Chairperson will do all it is needed this time around.
May I request honourable Chudamani Jangali, Binod Shrestha, presidents of two ITUC affiliated confederations – Com. Shalikram and Brother Khilanath – and friends from JTUCC affiliated unions to kindly hand over the letter to the Rt. honourable Chairperson. Thank You.
I believe progress is not possible by a dead review of history. For progress, we need a roadmap and work-plan to face the challenges ahead. Brother Suzuki, our regional General Secretary, Brother Chris, Secretary of UNI-APRO, Dr. Sharan K.C, Brother Devraj, Brother Narayan and Com. Deborah may I ask you to come a bit ahead in this stage please. May I ask you to unveil that stand please? Then you brothers, sisters and my dear comrades, please have a seat.
Today, the international trade union movement follows the model of unionising through organising academy. The stand mentions four subject-areas: GEFONT Trade Union Policy Institute (TUPI), GEFONT Trade Union School, National Labour Resource Centre and GEFONT Solidarity Fund.
This is the gift from our generation to the new generation of trade unionists. For the information of the participants present here, a renovated GEFONT building will be ready in a week to ten days’ time. From today, you will see changes in GEFONT website. GEFONT will have a personal labour resource centre operating from October dedicated to the general working class. The Trade Union Policy Institute will also work with a renewed zeal. In the leadership of Com. Umesh Upadhyaya, former Secretary General of GEFONT, GEFONT-TUPI will contribute to the Nepali World of Work at a policy level.Now we will have a regular trade union school to upgrade the capacity of our leaders and cadres. The school will run in National Labour Academy for now.
May I request Com. Deborah Nicholas to kindly stand up? She will mentor our teachers and our movement will greatly benefit from her. I request you to give her a big round of applause. Some 200 of our unions have invested 25,000 rupees each to form a solidarity fund. GEFONT has matched the same amount. Now we declare the establishment of the solidarity fund of 10 million rupees. This fund is different from the existing relief funds and will be operated together by investing unions and GEFONT.
All of these issues are termed as a structure for support and is headed by the transitional GEFONT structure: the GEFONT Governing Council.
Comrades,
May I also have your permission to share a context? Many of you may be organised members of CPN (UML). Some of comrades present here may even have been delegates to the CPN (UML) Congress. One of fellow delegates told me an interesting story related to an election for the new leadership in the party.
“Once, Gold met Iron and asked the latter, “Iron, why do you scream when an iron hammer hammers you? A goldsmith also hammers me but I do not scream like you.” Then Iron said, “had a goldsmith hammered you with the gold hammer then you would have felt the pain of being lashed by your own.”
‘All the workers of the world unite’, we say. We talk about empathy for fellow workers; slogan-“An injury to one is an injury to all!” If we fight among ourselves, among the citizens and workers of the same country, will we have moral standing to shout the slogan of global unity of the workers? If we are not able to forge solidarity among ourselves, how can we have solidarity among workers of our country? Will we have moral ground to ask JTUCC affiliated unions to unite? Therefore, the first condition of the labour movement is internal unity! House should be in proper order. Only then can we bring national labour movement in track. We can then mobilise South Asia’s SARTUC; we can then play a significant role in ITUC-AP; and, then we can sing the slogan of global unity.
After five years from now, when we will be celebrating the 30th Anniversary, I will definitely not be in the same position as I am now. But you comrades will be. You will then be responsible to take the trade union movement and GEFONT forward from the envious profile that GEFONT has achieved today. It will be upon you to ensure that GEFONT continues to receive the glory from the world trade union movement.
Twenty-five years ago when GEFONT was formed, we had our office in a bag with a few sheets of paper and some files. Our total fund was personal savings accumulated together about 1,250 rupees. Those of us who were working full-time in the union had no fixed place to sit or time to eat. But we had limitless passion to work for the working class. In crisis, we asked our cadres to contribute a day’s salary to the union. The well-equipped GEFONT office today and its property of about 120 million rupees is the earning of those hardships.
I would like to quote a famous businessman and former CA member Binod Chaudhary from his autobiography.
There is a famous hotel near Gateway of India in Mumbai called Hotel Taaj, a highly expensive hub for highly powerful politicians and high profile cine artists from Indian cinema. Mr. Binod Chaudhary had gone to visit Mumbai after his SLC. He was roaming around the area with his father’s personal assistant; and wanted to see inside the hotel. When he asked his guide to take him there, the guide denied it and said the guard will hold him by the collar and throw him out if he attempts to go in.
The same Binod Chaudhary today owns the same hotel. Whenever he visits Mumbai he stays in Hotel Taaj. Whenever he visits Mumbai he stays in the suite facing the Gateway of India paying a tariff of 30 to 40 thousand Indian rupees a day. Thinking of his past he feels there is no substantial change, it is just a journey from the gate to the suite. Writing to his sons from the suites he says, “My journey of life is a travel from that point to this point. And, you guys are starting from here. Now I am going to see where do you go from here?”
Comrades, Com. Mukunda and us, the first generation of the GEFONT movement, can ask you the same question. And, may I, finally, request you to watch the documentary prepared on GEFONT and the Nepali trade union movement “25 Years in Building Workers’ Power!”
Please do not through the question away from your mind! With this let me conclude here!
Bishnu Rimal,
Keynote on Siver Jubilee (20 July 2014; Nepal Academy Hall, Kathmandu)