August 5th, 2010
They claim, if a worker became permanent- s/he will be unproductive & remain like a “dead-wood” in enterprises; where as we are in a claim that this all is a mere drama, which has no relation with productivity in general- instead an effort to save overhead entitlement of a permanent worker as per existing law. … … In order to settle ours claims and counter-claims some 4 years back trade unions have trade-off with FNCCI on 7-point agendas which include both sides concerns on flexibility, social security, union rights & workers in informal economy and labour administration.
a) How do you assess present labour movement in Nepal?
Generally we have four trends in our trade union movement- i) the unions recognised and legalised by the trade union act of 2049, ii) unions appear time to time as the labour outfit of different political parties, iii) associations of employees running as the frontal organisations of various interest groups and iv) union emerged as the by-product of the decade-long insurgency. Combining activities of these all you can name it as the “labour movement” of Nepal. However, present state of our movement is fragmented- we are just being able to unite these forces issue-wise only. Such unity has also multiple folds- GEFONT along with NTUC, has formed a joint board in order to promote One Union idea; DECONT is with us in issue-wise activities. Remaining political groupings are in a loose-type of common platform. However, we are very much dreaming of “One Union-Umbrella” combining all in post-transitional period.
b) What are exact differences between employers and the labourers while dealing with labour problem in Nepal? What would be the trade off between them?
Major difference lies on the extent of flexibility and the social security. The employers blame that present labour legislation is ‘pro-labour’, and thus demand much flexibility & right to ‘hire and fire” their employees. We are in opinion that “hire and fire” is continued; labour law is not a problem. Employers’ hue-an-cry is a mere camouflage to hide their inefficiency, non-transparent dealing and deep-desire to informalise labour relation. They claim, if a worker became permanent- s/he will be unproductive & remain like a “dead-wood” in enterprises; where as we are in a claim that this all is a mere drama, which has no relation with productivity in general- instead an effort to save overhead entitlement of a permanent worker as per existing law.
In order to settle ours claims and counter-claims some 4 years back trade unions have trade-off with FNCCI on 7-point agendas which include both sides concerns on flexibility, social security, union rights & workers in informal economy and labour administration.
c) How has the labour dispute affected overall competitiveness of domestic products?
It is not a ‘dispute’ which affect the competitiveness of any products. Productivity has a connection with numbers of factors such as motivation; and it is linked directly with workplace condition, wage, benefits & facilities provided to. Dispute is the manifestation of dissatisfaction only, if a company lacking to motivate its employee, without any disputes productivity goes down and its direct consequence is heaping-up of labour cost in a production and service. That is tallied with other production and this way you can measure the competitiveness.
In our case, general Nepali workers are neither entitles living-wage nor the fair-wage, they are earning mere poverty-wage. They feel always insecure and alienated. On the other hand our employers do not own industrial culture. They want to accumulate quick profit and are short-sighted. Further we are surviving with an illusion-“all political strikes and disturbances are the labour dispute”. This way unionism has wrongly portrayed.
d) What are the current negotiations and attempts being made by GEFONT to settle disputes between employers and employees?
To be very frank, now a day game has not played en-rule by various actors. New player in the Nepali world of work- ANFTU prefers wild-cat strike. To revolutionising labour force they fuel the spontaneous strike. This “tool” has made ineffective other means of social dialogue. Thus a culture of competition in militancy has been sparked. It is further fuelled by our employers’ behaviours “neglecting grievance calmly forwarded by the unions”.
To suppress provocation from our side and in order to manage political transition (we lost such opportunity earlier), GEFONT together with unions clarified its position that we are not demanding extra except effective implementation of existing laws & the wage. In order to contribute peace-process through world of work, signed on a declaration which is known as Lahan Declaration and to direct own membership towards CA election involving in CMP together with unions from the all trends.
Education: Basic- Civil Engineering, Graduate in Commerce and Post-graduate study in MBA on Industrial relation
Involvement in Trade Union: Voluntarily involved since mid-1980s to cooperate the struggling labour leaders of the then semi-underground trade unions known as- Nepal Independent Workers Union, Nepal Independent Hotel Workers Union, Independent Transport Workers’ Association of Nepal and Trekking Workers Association, Nepal.
In 1989, GEFONT founded by above mentioned unions and became founder Secretary General; since then served in GEFONT as the Secretary General till to 2004; became Vice-chairman since then till today.
Involved in various labour-relation issues, as the workers representative involve to chart Labour Law 2048, Trade Union Act 2049 and preparation of Labour Policy of Nepal.
Involved to engineer Labour Conference twice with labour ministry, worked as the member of tripartite Central Labour Advisory Committee; represent Nepal in numbers of occasion in International Labour Conference and involved to developed numbers of policy
Elected as second substitute in General Council of newly formed International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on November 2006 and elected Full member of its Asia-pacific General Council from its founding conference held at September 5-6, 2007
Edited GEFONT’s labour magazine Sramik Khabar since 1990, editor of Workers’ News, one of the editors of GEFONT web-site gefont.org; edited dozens of GEFONT book singly & collectively
Writes over dozen books both in Nepali & English language related to world of work
Working experience: Started career with primary school teacher (for 6 months) 1978; worked at Public work division, Dhading at 1981, worked as site in-charge of various dirking water-supply project, survey and desk work such as estimate –design of irrigation cannel-suspension bridge etc in various districts Dhading, Nuwakot, Makwanpur, Sindhupalchowk under the then Ministry of Panchayat and Local Development till 1983; Instructor in Institute of Engineering, Central Campus Pulchowk 1983-1990…
Full time office bearer in union since 1990 May
Arrested and jailed several of times, longest jail-term is 9 months and shortest detention is 15 minutes!
September 2007