Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Hyatt Regency resumes operations

Hyatt Regency Kathmandu resumed operations from today as the agitating workers have withdrawn their protest with immediate effect.
The stock-market listed hotel confirmed that its operations have resumed but also claimed that the workers’ act was unlawful. The protesting workers have returned to work from last evening after the Labour and Employment Office stepped in to find a feasible solution to their grievances with the management.
All Nepal Hotel, Casino and Restaurant Workers Association decided to withdraw its protest on the request of Labour and Employment Office in Kathmandu, the association said – in a press note – adding that they had started protest against the management accusing the latter of curtailing facilities of workers and ‘misbehaving’ Indian personnel working at higher management level.
The protest had affected normal operations of the five-star hotel. In the eve of Visit Nepal Year 2020, the hotel management had declared to close the hotel for indefinite period, if the protest continues. Although the workers have returned on their duties, the hotel will not take any reservation for a few more days, according to head of Human Resource Department of Hyatt Govinda Pariyar, who also accepted that the hotel received a letter from the labour office this morning only.
The association today said that all workers returned to work from yesterday evening itself even though the management has not responded to their demands. “We decided to withdraw all our protest programmes and ask all the workers to return to work after Labour and Employment Office assured us to mediate with the management toward addressing our demands,” the chairperson of the authorised trade union at the hotel Mukti Dahal said.
The hotel management has blamed the trade union for being the puppet of the people, who want to close the hotel or ever. Blaming the hotel management for wanting to grab the government land, the trade union said that they fear the protest could be used to escape from the blame.
The trade union has ben blaming the hotel management of confiscating the government share in the hotel. The government’s stake in Taragaon Regency Hotels – which owns the hotel – has now come down to around 10 per cent from nearly 40 per cent, when the hotel resumed operation in late 1990s.
Currently, there are around 400 workers employed in Hyatt Regency that has 280 rooms, including seven suites and 35 regency club rooms. Hyatt Regency Kathmandu has been serving guests in Nepal since 2000. It is one of the Nepal Stock Exchange-listed hotels in Nepal.
Though the hotel management has been claiming that the government’s share has lowered because of its failure to buy rights shares issued to all shareholders, the trade union has been claiming that the management is trying to capture the government land. The hotel management, on the other hand, blames the trade union of being puppet of some unscrupulous people, who wants to gran the land and plot it and sell as land price has appreciated over 1000 times from the 1990s, when the hotel was constructed.

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