During Wednesday´s talks, representatives of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GFONT) affiliated to the CPN (UML), All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF) of the UCPN (Maoist) and Nepal Trade Union Congress (Independent), which is close to the Nepali Congress, pressed for a salary hike from Rs 4,600 to Rs 10,000 a month.[break]
However, officials of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) -- the apex body of the Nepali private sector -- said their demand could not be fulfilled during the present industrial gloom.
"Instead, we said we are open to 21.4 percent hike in wage rate," said Pradeep Jung Pandey, vice-president of FNCCI.
Following the industrialists´ proposal, the big three unions said they would return to talks on Thursday, working out a practicable hike rate from their side.
"We will put forth a joint proposal on the hike rate from all the trade unions on Thursday," said Ramesh Badal, secretary of GEFONT, who participated in the negotiations.
Despite the positive developments, ANTUF paid no heed to FNCCI´s request to withdraw the strike launched in Hetauda. The strike launched on Tuesday has forced 80 large and medium-scale industrial outfits to shut operations from that day.
ANTUF had launched the strike unilaterally, walking away from the negotiating table, even though the deadline the three trade unions gave the employers for fulfilling their pay-hike demand was to end only on Thursday.
However, Ganesh Regmi, general secretary of ANTUF, said that the federation will look into FNCCI´s call for strike withdrawal in Hetauda, particularly as the employers appeared positive toward the pay-hike demand.
"However, the employers should not treat the strike in Hetauda as an isolated case. The demand for pay hike has come from all the industrial corridors and estates. If it addresses the workers´ grievance over the meager wage rate, the problem will end at one go," he told Republica.
Regmi was referring to demands placed by trade unions at major industrial hubs like the Sunsari-Morang and Pathlayia-Birgunj industrial corridors. The big three trade unions have come together for the wage hike, and had submitted a memorandum to the government, FNCCI and the local administration a month ago, threatening to strike if the demand was not met by Wednesday.
Is the demand fair?
The extent of pay hike demanded by the workers might be debatable, but the demand for a revision of pay is fair because existing labor law requires that the government revise the minimum wage every two years in consensus with workers and employers.
And the two years since the last adjustment has already passed. The government had last fixed a minimum salary of Rs 4600 (Rs 3050 basic salary and Rs 1,550 dearness allowance) and daily wage of Rs 190 on September 18, 2008.
Going by this provision, the minimum wage should have been revised on September 18, 2010. FNCCI officials also agree that the lack of timely revision has mainly spurred the present unrest.
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