For the last two years, the staff of the insurance sector regulatory body have been demanding that the management provide daily allowance of Rs 150 per employee, introduce housing plan for the workforce and send each staff member on 15-day forced leave per year. [break]
Other demands include annual distribution of additional five months of salary and allowances as festival and vacation expenses, modification in voluntary retirement scheme and change in organizational structure keeping in view the growing workload of the Board.
“These are two-year-old demands which we said should be included in the new Employees Regulations. But they have been forwarded to the Ministry of Finance without holding discussions with the staff,” said Purna Bahadur Thapa, president of Employees Association of Insurance Board, expressing reservations on the management´s motive, which he called “suspicious”.
Two years ago, when the employees had first placed their demands, the management had agreed to address them gradually.
But after the employees didn´t notice any changes for a year, a protest was held November last year, which was called off later after the management agreed to address the demands.
“The protest that is being planned for this year is a continuation of what was organized last year,” Thapa said. “We don´t want to resort to such measures and request the management to consider our demands within the deadline.”
The protest program designed by the employees association for this year includes three-day-long ´pen down´ protest, which basically means employees will stop working from Sunday to Tuesday. If their demands are not fulfilled by that time the employees will organize a sit-in in front of the office of IB chairman for the next four days.
IB Chairman Dr Fatta Bahadur KC told Republica that the management has asked the employees to call off the protest as the government was considering their demands. “Hopefully, normal activities at the Board won´t come to a halt from Sunday,” he said.
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