“We have agreed to amend an earlier board decision that stopped bonus distribution and to decide as per the prevailing bonus law in order to boost morale among NOC staff,” reads an agreement that the NOC board and the two agitating trade unions signed on Thursday. [break]
The board also agreed to fulfill 12 other demands of the agitating staff, following which the NOC Employees Association and NOC Employees Organization withdrew their strike.
“We have ended our strike with instant effect. Normal supplies and import of fuel will begin from Friday,” Shiva Adhikari, general secretary of NOC Employees Organization, told Republica.
NOC staffers were obstructing fuel supply as part of a strike they launched from Wednesday to press for bonus despite a huge accumulated loss of about Rs 8 billion and debts totalling Rs 11 billion.
The corporation is still making consumers pay extra for the loss it suffered in the past and is heavily dependent on loans to finance imports. “The demand had dismayed consumers. The board´s decision to open bonus distribution has made us ashamed of the quality of regulators we have,” said Jyoti Baniya of Consumers´ Rights Protection Forum.
Apart from giving its nod to the bonus, the NOC board and management also agreed to come up with ´policy to enhance staff motivation´ within a month.
NOC also agreed to convert daily wage earners who have been working at the corporation for more than five years into monthly wage earner. “Apart from the payment of wages on a monthly basis, such staff will also be entitled to medical leave and pregnancy leave, among other things,” said Adhikari.
It also promised to develop a loss manual incorporating international norms in order to address staff demand on revision of the acceptable loss limit for fuel depots. The agitating trade unions had argued that such a manual would help check undue loss.
The NOC board also agreed to pay additional perks to staff in case of overtime. Promising to plug leakages, the corporation also reiterated a commitment not to provide vehicles and fuel to people other than its staff.
The top brass at the country´s petroleum monopoly likewise agreed to chalk out a human resources plan for fuel depots and implement it with high priority.
Interestingly, they also decided to modernize all NOC depots within a year. “Under this decision, management will initiate steps for automation of all the functional depots within a month. In case depots need repairs, it will complete all the procedures for automation within a year,” said Adhikari.
NOC management also converged on minimizing imports from Barauni, from where Nepal had started fuel imports during fuel crisis. The trade unions have noted that implementation of this provision will lower cost and leakages, as the cost of importing fuel from Barauni stands Rs 25,000 higher per 20 kiloliters than the cost of importing it from Raxaul.
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