Industrial strike

The unexpected strike of the Maoist-affiliated trade union, All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF), in Hetauda Industrial Estate to press industries to double their salary is an unfortunate event for Nepal’s fragile industrial sector. Though all major trade unions have stood up for revising laborers’ salaries and perks, the hasty act of ANTUF like strike in Hetauda and issuing threat to launch an indefinite nationwide industrial strike from Thursday by ignoring industrialists’ pleas to give them a week’s time for consultations is a worrisome development.



The latest threat of nationwide industrial strike has come at the time when Nepali industrial sector is passing through the most difficult phase in its history. It is a fact that industrial sector has been one of the most serious victim of toxic combination of lingering political instability, rigid labor law and acute power shortage. Private sector claims that the cost of industrial production has gone up by around 30 percent, thanks to surging cost of power and rising interest rates.



As most of the industries have been forced to install their own expensive diesel power generators, they have been compelled to use power that is three times more expensive. Rising interest rate that has gone up by up to six percentage points within a year has come as another blow to Nepal’s ailing industries. As a result of rising cost of production, domestic products are alarmingly losing their competitiveness not only in the foreign market but also in the domestic market to cheap Chinese imports.

Having said that, we believe both the government and industrialists should be sensitive toward the hardships faced by laborers due mainly to rising cost of living. There should be no hesitation in accepting the fact that the present level of earning that a laborer makes is not enough to make ends meet.



So, given the high accumulated inflation rate of the last two years, standing around 20 percent, it is high time the government initiates consultations with both trade unions and industrialists to increase the existing minimum wage of Rs 190 per day and extend other minimum benefits as per the Labor Law. Undoubtedly, the globally accepted collective bargaining rights of laborers need to be respected in the industrial sector. However, we urge all the trade unions, especially the one affiliated with Maoists, to exercise maximum restraint while making such a bargain. It must not take steps that endanger the very existence of industries.



After all, unionism will flourish if healthy industries exist.

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