The agreement has paved way for resumption of normal sales. The sudden strike by the workers had forced some 110 petrol pumps to pull down their shutters. As a result, consumers on Monday were compelled to queue at nine institutional pumps run by security agencies and Sajha Cooperatives.[break]
The pump workers had launched the strike from Sunday, pressing their employers to enforce minimum wage, set up workers welfare fund, provide insurance cover and provident fund to the staff, among others.
“They (pump owners) have agreed to fulfill our demands within 15 days. Hence, we have withdrawn all our programs for the time being,” said Laxman Neupane, in-charge of Newa State Committee of All Nepal Petroleum Workers Association (ANPWA). He said all the workers will return to work from Tuesday.
Sailendra Bade, president of Bagmati Zonal Petroleum Dealers´ Association, who agreed to the terms of ANPWA at the talks mediated by the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) on the day, said some of the demands of workers were genuine, but others like implementation of workers welfare fund were difficult to implement.
Petroleum dealers, however, have agreed to form a committee under MoCS to monitor implementation of the agreement by petrol pumps.
“The committee will monitor the market and ensure that all the pump owners pay their staff Rs 1,600 (an amount raised while reviewing the minimum wage last year) more than what they are paying now,” said Neupane.
If his statement is anything to go by, all the workers, including those who are already getting higher that the government-set wage, will get pay raise.
As for the demand on formation of workers welfare fund, petroleum dealers said the demand was unfair because of the timing, mainly as frequent fuel scarcity was hampering their business.
“Nonetheless, we have agreed to the MoCS´ proposal of assigning the ANPWA to come up with a concrete plan for setting up the fund,” said Saroj Pandey, president of Nepal Petroleum Dealers´ Association.
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