Surya Nepal settles labor dispute

The long-running labor dispute at Surya Nepal - the largest tobacco manufacturer in the country - has come to an end after the management addressed the demands placed by the workers.
“We signed an agreement with the management on Monday,” Beni Prasad Timilsina, president of the Nepal Multinational Companies´ Workers Union (NMCWC) told Republica on Tuesday over phone.
According to Timilsina, the management has agreed to increase basic salary of workers by Rs 861 per month. The trade union was demanding for increment of Rs 2,000 in the basic salary.
Rabi KC, corporate vice-president of Surya Nepal, said the company lost around 60 percent of daily production during the protest period.
Workers of Surya Nepal had not shut operations of the factory completely. They returned to work for some hours every day.
The management has also decided to provide Rs 311 per month as inflation allowance. Similarly, it has also hiked gratuity amount to Rs 325,000. Earlier, the workers were getting Rs 180,000 as gratuity amount.
The trade union had initially placed 11-point demands with the management. However, it reduced the demands to seven points after Hetauda Appellate Court issued a stay order against the protest at the end of March.
“All our demands have not been addressed,” Timilsina said, adding: “We compromised on some issues and so did the management.”
The company has also agreed to provide up to Rs 300,000 to workers if they become ill while serving the company. Similarly, it has agreed to provide up to Rs 500,000 in case the workers suffer from incurable diseases like cancer, according to Timilsina.
The appellate court in the first week of April had ordered both the workers and the management to settle the dispute through dialogues. Now that the agreement has been signed, the management has assured us that it would withdraw the petition from the court, according to Timilsina.