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Kathmandu Saturday March 17, 2001 Chaitra 04, 2057.
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Hotel workers
withdraw strike ILO to protest govt decision
Post Report
KATHMANDU, March 16 - Hotel
workers temporarily withdrew their strike and went back to work today following the
government’s decision to include hotel industry into Essential Service Operation Act
(ESA) Thursday.
The Central Action Committee (CAC) of the
hotel workers late Thursday night issued a press release requesting the hotel workers to
return to their work. "We request all our friends to resume their works," said
the press release issued by CAC.
However, the release has also condemned the
government move as undemocratic and has vowed to challenge it in the court. " Except
violence, we will seek all the possible alternatives to fulfill our demand on 10 per cent
service charge and will challenge the government move very soon in the court," adds
the release.
Not only the hotel workers, but the
government move has also been flayed by many other organizations.
According to a source close to International
Labour Organization Country Office in Kathmandu, the ILO is unhappy with the decision and
is likely to protest with the government. The government’s move breaches the
Convention No. 98 of the ILO to which Nepal is a signatory, said the source.
The ILO Convention recognizes, " the
principles of the right to organize and to bargain collectively." The government has
already ratified the Convention and it has appeared in the Gazette. Any Convention once
ratified gains a status of the governing law of the country.
Further, Article one of the Convention says,
" Workers shall enjoy adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination
in respect of their employment."
Meanwhile, the main opposition party, Nepal
Communist Party-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), in a press release issued here Friday
has condemned the government’s move to slap the Essential Service Operation Act
against the striking hotel workers.
"The government has, without initiating
dialogue between the concerned trade union and political parties to solve the problem has
issued an undemocratic notice to ban strikes," states the release.
The opposition party has also urged the
government to take back its decisions and initiate a comprehensive dialogue.
Likewise, Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC),
a labour union wing of the ruling Nepali Congress has also condemned the decision as
"undemocratic".
NTUC has also vowed to fight for the rightful
demands of the workers on the service charge issue. Democratic Confederation of Nepalese
Trade Unions has also flayed the imposition of Essential Service Operation Act and has
urged all the workers to unite against the "undemocratic move."
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