KATHMANDU, April 28: Agitating tea workers of eastern Nepal have agreed to withdraw their protest after employers agreed to provide them social security package as per the instruction of Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal.
Tea workers affiliated with three major trade unions - ANTUF, NTUC and GEFONT - are on strike for the past week, demanding pay hike on par with workers employed in other sectors. [break]
PM Khanal directed tea producers and processors to ensure social security of tea workers at a meeting between trade union representatives, employers and Labor Minister Top Bahadur Raymajhi at the Prime Minister´s Office.
“We´ve decided to withdraw all our protest programs after the employers expressed commitment to provide social security package to tea workers,” said Haridutta Joshi, vice president of GEFONT.
The meeting also formed a high-level taskforce to study problems in tea production center, including remuneration of tea workers, and suggest measures to resolve them within a month. The panel coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will also have representations from the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM), trade unions and employers´ associations.
Pashupathi Murarka, chairman of FNCCI´s Employers´ Council informed that the workers had promised to return to work from Thursday. “The taskforce will recommend remuneration for tea workers,” he added.
Chandi Parajuli, a tea producer, said they found the prime minister serious about the problems in the tea production sector. He also said tea producers were positive on raising remuneration of tea workers.
Tea workers in the eastern region had launched indefinite strike from April 17, demanding pay hike and other benefits.