Unions postpone strike

Trade unions today called off their agitation but till March 14.
The three agitating trade unions -- Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC), General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) and All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF) -- postponed their planned strike till March 14 to create a conducive environment for talks with entrepreneurs.
"We agree to postpone the agitation programmes from today till March 14," said a joint statement signed by the trade trade unions and FNCCI vice-president and coordinator of the Employers' Council Pradeep Jung Pandey.
Earlier in the morning, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) president Kush Kumar Joshi said that the entrepreneurs will not sit for talks until the trade unions take their decision to close down the industries back. "We will not bow down to any intimidation," he said, adding that FNCCI is ready to talk but after the trade unions allow to run the industries.
"The private sector is bearing the burnt of 16-hour power outage, 16 per cent interests rate and forcible closure of the industries bringing the industrial activities to a halt," he said, urging the government to take serious note of the situation.
Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal, however, opined that the logical demands of the trade unions will be taken into consideration but the trade unions should not forcibly close the industries that they have been doing for last two days.
"The only way out is through dialogue not intimidation," he said, adding that the government is serious on the wage dispute.Similarly, deputy prime minister and finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari said that he is ready to mediate the talks, if the trade unions take their decision to close industries back and sit for dialogue.
From Tuesday, the factories of nearly 80 companies -- in Hetauda Industrial Zone -- closed indefinitely after the trade unions called a strike in Makwanpur to press their demand for a minimum wage of Rs 10,000 per month up from the current Rs 4,600. They d even threatened to call indefinite strike from March 26 across the country.
Meanwhile, senior vice-president of FNCCI Suraj Vaidya, said that labourers and entrepreneurs are two faces of a coin. "The forcible intimidation will hurt the relationships between the entrepreneurs and labourers," he said, adding that need of the hour is to unitedly solve the problem through dialogue.
NTUC is the Nepali Congress affiliated trade union, whereas GEFONT is CPN-UML led and ANTUF is UCPN-Maoists' sister organisation that has two new splinters led by Badri Bajgain (near to party vice-chairman Mohan Vaidya) and Laldhoj Nembang (near to another vice-chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai).