Workers at National Soap Industries (NSI) in Hetauda have padlocked the factory, bringing operations to a grinding halt from Friday, to press a demand for advance payment of salaries for the Nepali month of Ashwin, which ends on October 17.[break]
Interestingly, the strike hit the industry on the very day five trade unions, including the big three ones affiliated with the UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN (UML), agreed with industrial entrepreneurs on not launching any strike for the next four years.
“The strike came all of a sudden and the trade unions did not even bother to comply with the legal procedures,” said Ravi Bhakta Shrestha, chairman of NSI and vice-chairman of NE Group, promoter of the factory.
Under existing law, trade unions need to first submit their demands to the management, giving it 15 days to respond. “Sadly, the workers made a mockery of the law and did not even respect the promise that their leaders made to the government and the private sector,” Shrestha told Republica.
NSI, established with an initial investment of Rs 100 million in 1997, was producing OK brand soap and Wheel detergent power under sub-contract for Unilever. Its annual turnover was valued at around Rs 500 million and the factory employed 155 workers.
Shrestha, referring to Friday´s decision of the high-level Central Labor Advisory Committee on industrial peace, asked the government to intervene in the case immediately. If it did not, he said, the management would fire the workers for launching an illegal strike, using ´hire and fire´ powers endorsed by the committee that same day.
Officials at the factory became irked particularly after the workers demanding advance payment of salary prior to Dashain manhandled staff and locked some of them up on the factory premises.
The factory had already paid the salaries for the month of Bhadra (which ended mid-September) and also the Dashain allowances. “But the workers a few days ago suddenly demanded advance release of this month´s salary also,” said Narayan Singh Basnet, manager at NSI.
Responding to the demand, the management had even started paying Rs 3,000 -- which is about half the monthly minimum wage set by the government -- to each worker, saying that they would release the remaining salary after the month ended. Forty workers readily took the advance payment.
“However, others did not agree and suddenly started burning tyres, locked up the staff and padlocked the factory,” said Basnet, adding that the management sought the help of the local administration to free staff in the accounts department.
The factory had planned to continue production till Sunday before going for the Dashain break. “However, the sudden closure has disrupted this plan. It will damage the raw materials that were already readied for production and inflict a huge loss on the factory,” said Basnet.
Workers shut down Sungold Brewery
Mocking the agreement signed between the big trade unions and industrialists for not shutting down factories for at least four years, the workers of Sungold Brewery Nepal, based in Mukundapur of Nawalparasi district, have halted the production by putting forth various demands from Saturday, RSS reported.
All works in the factory have been halted from early this morning after the workers saw no sign of agreement with the factory management. The workers had been obstructing the export from the factory for the past three days.
The management side and workers are in a tug-of-war regarding the issue of bonus to be given to the workers.
The brewery is producing Sun Gold, Nepal Ice and Real Gold brands of beer. The company is employing more than 80 workers.
Ganga Subedi, a worker of Sungold Brewery, said efforts to begin dialogue to resolve the problem and reopen the factory are under way.
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