With most of the employers agreeing to implement new pay package, the protest called by ten fringe trade unions is gradually becoming irrelevant.[break]
The trade unions had announced to expand their ongoing protest to the hospitality sector, including five-star hotels in the capital, from Tuesday. But the unions didn´t intensify the agitation after they came to know that most of the hoteliers are positive about their demand.
“We didn´t intensify our protest because most of the hoteliers are positive about our demand,” Prakash Shrestha, general secretary of All Nepal Hotel and Restaurant Workers Association (ANHRWA).
Trade union leaders on Monday had said that they would intensify their protest in more than 60 hotels and restaurants in Kathmandu to exert pressure on them to implement the new pay package.
The trade unions are in agitation for more than 10 days, demanding that the employers implement the government-fixed pay package. Issuing a notice in Nepal Gazette on May 24, the government had fixed minimum monthly salary of workers at Rs 6,200 and daily wage at Rs 231.
Shrestha said trade union leaders are in negotiation with the management of Shangri-La, Mountain, Landmark, De l´Annupurna and Hyatt Regency hotels.
Though Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) - the apex body of hotels in the country - is against implementing the new pay package, number of hotels in the country have agreed to raise salary of workers as per the government-set pay package.
Shyam Sundar Lal Kakshapati, general secretary of HAN and the promoter of Kurintar-based Riverside Springs Resort, said he has agreed to implement new pay package in his business establishments.
“As the workers are in agitation, we were left with no option but to fulfill their demands,” a managerial staff at the resort told Republica.
Surya Baral, central member of All Nepal Revolutionary Trade Union Workers´ Association (ANRTUW), said two big hotels in Chitwan have also agreed to hike salary of workers in line with the new pay package.
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