Agitation expands to hotels, restaurants

KATHMANDU, Aug 2: Ten fringe trade unions have announced to expand their ongoing protest to hospitality sector, including five-star hotel, as well from Tuesday.



They are on agitation for more than a week demanding that the employers implement the government-set wage package. Issuing a notice in Nepal Gazette on May 24, the government had fixed minimum monthly salary of workers at Rs 6,200 and daily wage at Rs 231.[break]



Agitating trade union leaders said they were compelled to expand their protest to the hospitality sector, as hotels and restaurants in Kathmandu and Chitwan are refusing to implement the government-set pay package.



Two factions of Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF) led by Badri Bajgain and Lal Dhoj Nembang and Madhesh-based trade union are on strike since July 22. The trade unions announced stir after the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) issued a circular, instructing its members not to implement the government-fixed remuneration.



“We will now focus on hotels and restaurants as most of the employers in industrial estates have already agreed to fulfill our demands,” said Lal Dhoj Nembang, coordinator of ANTUF. He further added that more than 50 hotels, including five star hotels, and tourist standard restaurants in Kathmandu are still reluctant to implement the new pay package.



“Most of the hotels and restaurants have already fulfilled our demands. But a few are ignoring our demands despite our repeated calls,” said Prakash Shrestha, general secretary of All Nepal Hotel and Restaurant Workers´ Association (ANHRWA). Shrestha made it clear that they would go to the extent of shutting operations of hotels and restaurants if the employers failed to address their demands within a couple of days.



Reputed five-star hotels like Hyatt Regency, Radisson, De l´Annapurna, Shangri-La and Everest and restaurants The Bakery Café are refusing to implement the government-fixed pay package, according to Badri Bajgai, coordinator of the other faction of ANTUF.



Gangaram Yadav, central member of All Nepal Revolutionary Hotel and Restaurant Workers Association (ANRHRWA), said nine big and 32 medium level hotels in Chitwan have yet to implement the new pay package.



However, hoteliers said they were not in a position to implement the new pay package as business in big hotels has dropped despite rise in tourist arrivals. “It´s not fair to demand implementation of the government-fixed pay package as the case is currently sub judice at the Supreme Court,” a member of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) told Republica.

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