Illegal closures to bleed workers

The industries that were closed for four consecutive days here due to the indefinite strike called by the UCPN (Maoist)-affiliated trade union, have termed the closure illegal and decided not to pay the salary to the workers for the days the industries remain closed.

On Saturday, the agitating trade union and the management of the industries had reached an agreement to re-open the industries assigning the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BCCI) to resolve the problem related to the National Medical College. FNCCI president Kush Kumar Joshi was also present during the talks. "We haven't mentioned anything about the 'no work no pay' in the agreement but our stance is clear, we can't pay salary for those days when the industries remained closed," said BCCI President Om Prakash Sikaria. The FNCCI has also declared that it won't back-off from it's stance of 'no work no pay'. Bijay Sarawagi, executive member of the BCCI said that since the closure was illegal they were not stepping back from their stance.

Due to the indefinite strike of the pro-Maoist union, many industries of the Birgunj-Pathlaiya industrial corridor remained close for four consecutive days. However, the National Medical College and its teaching hospital were open. Industrialists had even requested Basarudhhin Ansari, Managing Director of the Nepal Medical College to make efforts to help re-open the industries. "But he didn't pay heed to our request and asked us to manage our own security system as he did for the college," said a BCCI official.

The Maoist-affiliated trade union's Bhojpura State Coordination Committee had called for the indefinite closure of all the industries of Parsa, Bara and Rautahat after a group of teaching hospital supporters chased away the group who had tried to close the hospital demanding re-appointment of three dismissed laborers.

The college had dismissed the three workers - Ramesh Bhattarai, Jakir Rahman and Raj Kapoor Mandal - on Aug. 2 for their involvement in trade union activities. The issue later grew into labour disputes. The healthcare personnel, staffers and workers had started the agitation demanding re-appointment of the three dismissed workers, implementation of the 24-point agreement and peace and security. However, the management refused to budge from its stance. The managing director of the college has been saying that those individuals had received retirement after completing their service term.
Source:eKantipur