KATHMANDU, Aug 25: Surya Nepal on Wednesday disclosed that they decided to permanently shut down the garment manufacturing unit not just it lost the orders it had on hand, but also because its buyers from the US and Europe categorically said they will not place orders in future as well.
Senior officials of Surya Nepal said the company suffered a severe blow mainly after the buyers came to know about ´hostage situation´ in the factory, wherein trade union affiliated with the UCPN (Maoist) locked over two dozen managerial staff for 24 hours without food and water, and rescue carried out by the police.[break]
“American and European buyers are pretty sensitive to social compliance and following the 9/11 incident, they have been placing orders only to Customs Trade Partnership against Terrorism (CTPAT) certified companies, A K Jha, manager of Surya Nepal garment said, adding, “When the news of the unpleasant incident reached them, they said ´there is terrorism in Surya Nepal´. They cancelled all the orders, and even committed not to place order in future as well.”
Speaking at the meeting of Finance and Labor Relations Committee of parliament, Jha lamented over unruly behavior of the All Nepal Trade Union Federation-Revolutionary (ANTUF-R).
The committee had summoned top managers of Surya Nepal on the day to know the company´s viewpoints behind shutdown decision.
“We had trained almost all our employees and paying them better than other factories. We used to serve them tea as soon as they entered the factory premise, and were providing four breaks during a shift,” Jha said.
What rattled the company most, according to Jha, was that senior trade union leaders, local political leaders, entrepreneurs, administration and local labor office could do nothing when the factory management requested them to rescue its staffers after the ANTUF-R locked them in the factory.
“I acknowledge that all of them tried their best, but still no result came. This dampened our confidence; if concerned stakeholders, civil society and government authority can´t assure security to an industry and its staffers, who will secure them?” said Jha, tagging it as second major factor behind the shutdown decision.
The company, started with an investment of Rs 700 million in 2004, paid taxes worth Rs 303.70 million in 2010/11. Its monthly salary bill, including wages of 608 workers, was about Rs 6 million and some Rs 4 million used to be received by the locals of Tankisinuwari, where the factory was based.
Lawmakers like Dr Ram Sharan Mahat of Nepali Congress blamed the apathy of Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Labor and Transport Management and other authorities to timely intervene into the issue and enforce law behind the shutdown decision.
They instructed the concerned authority to act on time in future so that relations between workers and management do not worsen, and also asked the government to make all efforts to resume the factory.
Interestingly, the committee, which has representation from both the private sector and trade unions, split vertically as lawmakers themselves started blaming the other party, instead of resolving the industry´s problems.
For instance, UML lawmaker Bishnu Rimal, who is also the chairman of General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions, said Surya Nepal´s claims like loss of orders were hoax and its sole intention was to kick trade unions out of the factory.
President of Confederation of Nepalese Industries Binod Chaudhary, who is also a CPN-UML lawmaker, blamed trade unions for gloom running deep in the country´s industrial sector.