"The party has decided to call on the government to take up the disputes between the workers and the entrepreneurs through concerned ministry to solve the problem," reads a press statement issued after the meeting.[break] The Maoist call for government intervention comes a day after the party´s decision on Wednesday to dissolve all the trade union factions and form a new committee for holding a national convention and electing a new leadership, solving the factional disputes for time being.
Though the party´s official trade union under Salikram Jammakattel signed an agreement with industrialists over the workers´ demand for salary hike, the union factions led by Badra Bajgain and Lal Dhwaj Nembang continued the strike accusing Jammakattel of sell-out. Bajgain is close to Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, while Nembang is close to Vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai. Taking advantage of the Maoist factional disputes, newly formed trade union in the Tarai has also announced strikes.
The factionalism has penetrated deep into the Maoist trade union, and the rival faction leaders have been wrangling in public, accusing each other of sell-out.
According to party insiders, the trade union factions that called for continuing strike are now eager to end it. The union leaders close to Biadya and Bhattarai factions had requested the party leadership to take initiatives for a safe-landing. The factions led by Bajgain and Nembang had decided to move ahead with the agitation, challenging the legitimacy of Jammakattel as the Maoist trade union chief.
The party took the decision after the defiant trade unionists refused to abide by the previous decisions of dissolving parallel committees, downsizing the 251-member official trade union led by Jammakattel to 93 and holding a national convention to elect a new leadership for the union. Immediately after the party´s decision, there were more instances of assaults against each other.
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