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Kathmandu,Wednesday March 15, 2000 Chaitra 02, 2056.
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Industrial
policies still shrouded in confusion
By
Ram Sharan Sedhai
KATHMANDU,
March 14 - A lot of efforts have been put to keep industrial relations
into right track after the restoration of democracy, but a precious
little has been achieved to end the employer-employee mistrust.Worse
still, the confusion has started to affect the industrial development
of the country, which squarely hits both employers and employees.
Past
one decade has seen a number of policy formulations and amendments but
they failed by way of improving employees’ productivity and
remunerations. This has left both the sides only frustrated.
This
frustration has drawn two sides asunder, which is reflected in
employers’ increasing demand for right to hire-and-fire and emloyees’
increasing tendency to resort to aggressive trade unionism.
Employer’s
demand for right to hire-and-fire sounds in line to the present
liberal dispensation but it is equally flawed given the absence of
social safety net. Labour leaders say labor related acts and policies
have failed to understand this sensitivity.
Bishnu
Rimal, General Secretary of General Federation of Nepalese Trade Union
(GeFONT) says the Labour Policy 2056 is confusing. It seems to please
everyone but no concrete issues have been incorporated in it. The
monitoring is so weak that most of the industrialists avoid recruiting
labourers permanently and giving them only the minimum salary.
Labour
Act 2054 has taken a middle path by making a provision of factory
inspector but its existence is hardly felt as there are only 10
inspectors in the kingdom.
Basu
Dev Pokhrel, Chief of Kathmandu Labour Office, says that one factory
inspector at the office has to inspect 3030 enterprises, as per the
official data.
We
need at least 5 more factory inspectors just to inspect the local
enterprises, let alone to settle the complaints filed at our office,
he added.
This
clearly shows how poor the monitoring mechanism is.
First,
there is no labour inspector. Secondly, the existing factory
inspectors have nothing to do with the performance of the workers.
Unless such a provision is made, both the employers and the employees
keep on blaming each other.
Neither
the employers have the right to fire such labourers nor the labourers
once fired from job have any social safety net to fall back.
This
has been the impediment in the growth of industrial development of the
country.
The
mistrust between the two sides has found outlet once again on the
issue of revision of minimum wage that takes place normally at the
interval of two years.
The
present minimum wage of the organized sector labourer is Rs 1,300 plus
Rs 500 allowance per month. Except for in a few enterprises, where the
labour union is stronger, all the labourers get only the minimum
salary, which is very meagre.
Minimum
Wage Determination Committee, a tripartite committee comprising of
government, trade unions and employers, is working to revise the
present minimum wage. Trade Unions are demanding to raise the minimum
wage to Rs 2,400, while the employers want the wage to be confined to
below 2,250 rupees.
Employers
argue that they are not in a position to meet the demand of Trade
Unions as their ability to pay is very low.
Rajendra
Kumar Khetan, Chairman of Employers Council- Federation of Nepalese
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), alleges that labour
unions focus only on minimum wages and collective bargaining resulting
in untimely and unfair strike in critical conditions.
“I
am in favour of raising the minimum wages but our ability to pay is
very low.” If the government provides us some incentives, industrial
enterprises can increase the pay of their employees. Government should
protect domestic industries as we have to compete with two
neighbouring giants, Khetan argued.
Government
officials also endorse employers’ view on their ability to pay.
Joint
Secretary at the Ministry of Labour Chhabi Raj Pant says, “Most of
the industrial enterprises are not in a good condition financially.”
Therefore, their ability to pay is low, he added.
However,
Laxman Bahadur Basnet, Chairman of Nepal Trade Union Congress is not
ready to accept it. He says, “Except for textile industries, all
industrial enterprises are in a good condition. They just do not want
to provide a fair pay to the employees”, he blamed.
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