Shutdown strikes in hotels from today
No interim order to stop strikers

BY NAVIN SINGH KHADKA

Kathmandu, March 14:The service-charge demanding unionists will stage shutdown strikes in all the tourist standard hotels across the Kingdom beginning tomorrow as the Patan Appellate Court today decided not to issue an interim order sought by hoteliers to ban strikes in their establishments.

Following a two-day hearing on whether or not to issue a stay order to keep unionists from going for the shut down strikes in hotels, the Appellate Court today said that the petitioners failed to mention in their petition two key points.

First, the petition was not clear on what did the hoteliers want the court to issue an injunction for. Second, the petition did not mention that an alternative legal solution – that the government could issue an order or instruction to stop such strikes if they threaten law and order in the country and the national economy – was something already tried.

"Since the government appears to be in a position to facilitate the hoteliers and their employees’ unionists to hold talks on the service charge issue that is sensitive and involves policy level questions, the court could not issue an interim order instructing that the scheduled strikes be stopped," the Court said in its verdict.

Six lawyers had advocated for the hoteliers while eight had defended the unionists’ move in the hearings under the division bench of Justices Madhav Raj Thapa and Bodhari Raj Pandey.

Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) and 12 hotels last week had filed petitions at the Appellate Court challenging the legality of the unionists-called shut down strikes scheduled to begin from tomorrow. The hoteliers had also demanded that hotel industry be included in the list of essential services in the Essential Service Act.

The hotel operators had moved the court after hotel unionists declared their protest programmes to be finally followed by shutdown strikes in hotels from March 15 if their mandatory service charge demand remained unmet.

"We will begin our shutdown strikes tomorrow in all the tourist standard hotels," said Bishnu Lamsal, Secretary at the Joint Central Action Committee of the two unions of hotel employees. "We have no choice but to resort to shutdown strikes because our demand for service charge still remains unmet."

Meanwhile, HAN said that the strike, if it takes place tomorrow, would be illegal because it would be against the provisions in the Labour Act and Trade Union Act. "All the member hotels of HAN will try their best to run their hotels despite the shutdown strikes called by unionists. Since the government is the only authority, we urge it to resolve this crisis that could have a long term impact in the country’s economy."

Both the hoteliers and their employees’ unions had reached the government some three months ago after they could not reach into an agreement on the service charge row. With the hoteliers hell bent not to levy service charge on their clients and the unions adamant on their demand for around five months, the government some three months ago had formed a high level committee to look into the matter.

The high level body last month submitted its report to the government recommending not to introduce compulsory service charge immediately but to go for fixed wage system as an ultimate solution. The report had suggested the government to introduce voluntary hospitality service charge for now.

Hoteliers had welcomed the prescription while the unionists rejected it and declared their protest programmes.

The shutdown strike in hotel beginning tomorrow is going to be the first one in the history of the nation’s hospitality industry. The unionists had threatened to bring the hotels to a grinding halt some three months back but suspended the idea with the government having formed the high level committee to look into their demand.

Hoteliers, however, locked out their hotels on the day the unionists had scheduled to begin their strikes. The hotel owners had forcefully made their clients check out of their rooms then.

Hotel owners still maintain that they cannot levy the service charge on their clients’ bills because the tourism packages in the country are already expensive and that the tourist arrival is very poor. While, the hotel workers’ unions stress that they need the mandatory tipping system to distribute the money equally among the staff, among other reasons.

So, will hotel-guests be out in the street?

Now that tourist-standard hotels will be reeling under the hardship of their workers’ shutdown strikes from tomorrow, will their guests be thrown out in the cold?

The hotel employees’ leaders said that they would explain the hotel guests that it was all because of the indifference of hoteliers. "We plan to allow them to stay in the hotels till tomorrow though the hotel staff would not be serving them," they said. "From the day after tomorrow every thing in the hotels will be closed down."

Hotel owners, however, said that they would try their every best to keep their shops open. "We will do whatever we can to keep our hotels open," said Narendra Bajracharya, President of HAN.

Some upper bracket hotels claimed that they could continue their operations if "there were no external pressures." Owners of such hotels said that they enjoy good relations with their workers unions in the hotels and that they would agree to offer services to the guests who are already there in the hotels.

Hotel Yak and Yeti, for instance, said it has good understanding with its employees’ unions. "Our staff are ready to serve our guests (presently 250) who are already here but I can’t say what happens when pressure would be exerted from outside to close down," said Navneet Nagpal, Acting General Manager in the five star hotel that has 75 per cent occupancy in its 175 rooms. "We would at least try to provide minimum service to the clients until they depart."

Some of the clients in the upper class hotels have already begun to check out to check in at lodges and guesthouses where there is no threat of shut down strikes. Two US guests in Hotel Yak and Yeti, for instance, checked out this evening to check in at a guest house, according to Nagpal.

Hotel union leaders claimed that they have their branch offices in all the tourist standard hotels except in "one or two establishments." The government has issued around 800 licenses for hotels and resorts across the Kingdom. HAN has only around 200 of them as its members.

The existing beds in the hotels in the country can accommodate around one million tour ists at a time. Not even half a million tourists had visited the country last year.

Safa Tempos are not clean: Experts

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Mar. 14:The electric tempos, which were brought in to replace the diesel tempos to reduce the growing vehicular emission, themselves are a threat to public health, environmentalists say.

They say the problem has arisen because of the lack of proper disposal site and procedure after the batteries become dead and have to be disposed off.

They say the sulphuric acid and lead contained in those batteries are creating grave soil and water pollution.

Senior geologist at the Mines and Geological Department, Dr. Gangadhar Tuladhar says the main problem with the electric tempos is the lack of proper mechanism to dispose off their batteries after they are used.

He said the indiscriminate disposal of those batteries is posing a grave problem to the health of the people. He said the sulphuric acid and lead in those batteries pollute both the surface and sub-surface water. The use of such water may cause to mental retardation and physical deformities to the people.

Dr. Mahesh Poudel, General Secretary of the Environmental Development Society, says each battery if not properly disposed can pollute an area of 25 square feet. He added that without the provision for proper disposal procedure such electric tempos should not have been introduced.

Presently, there are about 650 electric tempos running in Kathmandu valley and each tempo uses two sets of batteries each weighing 336 kgs. The batteries used in electric tempos have a life of only one to one-and-a-half year and in every one to one-and-a half-year period those tempos produce more than 218,000 kg of sulphuric acid and lead.

"So, one can imagine the extent of pollution such huge amount of chemicals can cause to the land and water of Kathmandu," said Dr. Poudel.

However, Devi Bahadur Limbu, Chairman of Nepal Safa Paribahan Sangh (Association of Clean Vehicles), does not agree with Dr. Poudel. He said the main problem is not the pollution the batteries may cause, but the cost of fuel that needs to be imported to run the diesel vehicles.

He defends that the batteries after they are used up are not disposed off here but are taken to India by the collectors. He even said the electric tempos have become a burden because of the high-cost of recharging the batteries and stiff competition among other public transport vehicles.

He adds that although the government has given some concession to the recharging stations, but they charge us the full amount, making the fare not very competitive. He demanded the government to take action against those recharging stations.

Meanwhile, Dr. Toran Sharma of Nepal Environmental and Scientific Services, does not agree that the batteries are being used up are exported to India. He said the Basle Agreement of 1992 has completely prohibited the export of poisonous and polluting substance. "So, the argument that these batteries are exported to India is totally wrong."

He argues that there is no question that the batteries coming out of the electric tempos are highly poisonous and polluting, and there should be a proper and appropriate means of disposing them very soon.

Dr. Poudel even said if considered the health hazard posed by the electric tempos the huge tax rebate of 99 per cent custom duty and VAT given for the import of the electric vehicles is actually unproductive. He said the government has lost the revenue of about Rs. 720 million giving facilities to these electric vehicles.

On this, Assistant Secretary at the Revenue Division of the Ministry of Finance, Janardan Sharma, said if the Ministry of Population and Environment recommends us to cut off the tax rebate, the Ministry of Finance will think about it.

"If that Ministry recommends us to levy custom duty and VAT on the import of electric vehicles, citing the reason that it is against the interest of public health, we can impose the taxes," said Sharma.

Meanwhile, the officials at the Ministry of Population and Environment do not want to comment on this saying the research and investigation on the effect of batteries on environment is going on. But an official Chiranjibi Gautam accepted that improper and indiscriminate disposal of batteries of the electric vehicles is indeed a problem.

Water supply situation discussed

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Lalitpur, March 14:Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Fund Development Board (RWSSFDB) organised a workshop here today to discuss water supply and sanitation modalities and share its achievements in delivering sustainable, reliable and cost-effective services to the rural communities.

Established in 1996, RWSSFDB – a semi autonomous organisation - has reportedly been working since 1997 to promote demand-led rural water supply and sanitation services with an emphasis on community ownership.

The Board has completed the implementation of 282 drinking water supply schemes in 38 different districts of the nation. RWSSFDB sources said that 314 more projects were under construction while 399 others were in the development process.

The Board said that with the completion of these projects some 800 thousand people in 49 districts would avail of the services.

The Board said that it was also involved in improving health and sanitation condition in the programme areas. It said that a total of 12,763 households had made toilets from its loan assistance.