The Minimum Wage rate defined by the government on 23rd May by publishing a notice for the low wage earners in Industries has been denied by the Federation for Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries. The government has overlooked the agreement sought between the Federation, Other Employers and the Trade Unions. The Federation has clarified it cannot agree on the Government bill that has been passed without considering the 11 point consensus agreed upon by the stakeholders. The Federation also requested the Government to establish an environment for the agreement to be acted upon and also reminded the Government to rethink their activity in time or be responsible for the misunderstandings that may be created by the notice.
“The notice is already a law since the date of publication and cannot be changed or overlooked at any cost” says the Labor Ministry Spokesperson Poorna Chandra Bhattarai. This law could have been discussed earlier but after the publication, it is not so easy and every institution within the country has to provide the monthly wage of NRP 6,200 monthly at the minimum and for the daily wage earners the rate has been fixed at NRP 231 daily.
The Federation is not happy with the Government’s move as the economic sector of the country is already in a low due to various factors and the government has created a new problem by publishing this notice when all was well after the last consensus between the Federation, employers and the Trade Unions. Now the Notice has created a new situation which may drive the Trade Union into fractions and the Industries may again fall into the maze of strikes and shutdowns. Yet another strike in the already struggling industrial sector might be just too much for the industries to keep going.
The Government on the other hand is very positive about its move and is dedicated to ensure the wage increment and ready to investigate if need be. The Notice has been published after the Trade Union was not happy with the consensus derived along with the Federation says a Government Personnel.
Courtesy: Kantipur News Daily
