Tussles between management and labor are nothing new in the world. But the nature of industrial protests that we have been witnessing here are distinctly different from what we see in other countries. We have said many times that downing tools, padlocking the gates of factories and quite often locking up the management staff are not the ways to express labor discontent. The unfortunate demise of garment manufacturer Surya Nepal reminds us how badly industrial relations have become in Nepal. And this has been one of the reasons for the shrinking share of the manufacturing sector in the GDP pie. This share has shrunk from 10 percent a decade ago to 6 percent. Sad to say, prolonged labor unrest has badly dampened investor confidence and left the industrial environment gloomy.
This, however, does not mean Nepali workers should keep their mouths shut even when they suffer intolerable treatment at the hands of employers. Without doubt, employees worldwide have the right to fight for their rights. Also, workers alone should not be blamed for lethargic performance by the manufacturing sector. Employers too should learn to lend an ear to what the workers -- who are after all the assets of any firm -- have to say. They should be serious in addressing both the financial and non-financial grievances of labor and should also focus on providing training to enhance the level of worker productivity, something that has been sorely lacking in Nepal.
We are hopeful that the latest tripartite deal will be helpful in alleviating the deep mistrust that exists between workers and employers. We hope it will reconcile the two sides, so that workers will not deem employers as people who only make them slog away without appropriate wages and employers will not consider employees as ‘good for nothing fellows’ who do little work but make huge demands.
This deal has opened a new chapter and can repair Nepal’s wretched labor relations. We urge all concerned to be sincere in implementing each and every point of the agreement since that is the only way to deal with the biggest obstacle to the country’s industrial development and investment in this sector.
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