A total of 20 industries, including dairy firms, plastic and metal companies, are operating in the DIA.
The companies stopped their operations after All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF) Industrial Unit Committee (IUC) launched the strike in the industrial area, claiming that four pharmaceutical companies of Dharan had not fulfilled the demands of agitating workers.
“The shutdown has affected manufacturing works worth millions of rupees,” said Dibya Raj Aryal, administrative officer at the DIA.
ANTUF IUC, meanwhile, said the strike was launched as a part of their solidarity to agitating workers of Shiva Pharmaceuticals, Manoj Pharmaceuticals, Manoj Chemical and Makalu Herbal Company.
Eighty-two workers of those companies have been protesting against the management of the four pharmaceutical companies since the last three weeks, demanding the management to raise their salary and perks.
“We closed down operations of industries in DIA in a bid to pressurize the management of those four companies to fulfill the genuine demands of the workers,” said Dil Bahadur BK of IUC.
To enforce the shutdown, the workers affiliated with the ANTUF picketed the main entrance of the industrial area from early Thursday. Buoyed by the solidarity of ANTUF, the agitating workers of the four companies said they would continue with their protest until their demands were addressed by their employers.
Although a team comprising representatives from Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and local civil society mediated talks between the agitating workers and their employers, they failed to resolve the stalemate through dialogue. The workers had walked out of the talks last Friday, blaming the mediation team of taking the side of Govinda Ram Agrawal, who is the promoter of all the four pharmaceutical companies.
Agrawal, on the other hand, said that he was ready to fulfill their demands. “But they are raising one issues after the other and creating nuisance,” he said.
The workers of the four companies had initially launched the strike under the leadership of UML-affiliated General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT). However, they later joined the ANTUF, saying that the GEFONT tilted toward the management.
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