By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : After the closure of the tobacco factory of ITC’s subsidiary in Nepal, another multinational now faces an indefinite lockout in the labour trouble-torn Himalayan nation.
Nepal Lever, Hindustan Lever’s subsidiary in Nepal, has had its factory in Basmadi village in central Makwanpur district padlocked since Sunday.
The closure was called by a group of youths who are asking the management to give priority to locals during employment.
The agitators are also asking the multinational to undertake development projects in the area like building a school and providing drinking water. It is likely that the protesters have at least the sympathy of the Maoists.
The management was said to be at a loss over how to start negotiations since no bonafide trade union has come forward asking for dialogue.
Things reportedly took an ugly turn Monday when the local residents locked up employees of the factory inside its premises and refused to let them go. A daily Tuesday said the workers were released after the police intervened.
There was a baton charge as the police sought to remove the protesters blocking the factory entrance and tear gas was fired, the Kathmandu Post reported.
There was no immediate comment from Nepal Lever.
During the Maoist insurgency, the communist guerrillas had closed down Nepal Lever.
However, though the rebels ended their 10-year insurgency in 2006 and joined the government, a spurt in militant trade unionism is making business as hazardous for the business sector as it used to be in the past.
From Wednesday, another multinational, Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd, has had its tobacco factory in Simra village in southern Bara district closed by a trade union comprising two ruling party affiliates.
Surya, in which ITC holds 59 percent stake with the rest held by British American Tobacco and 20 Nepali shareholders, has been shut down by the Multinational Company Workers’ Union.
The union is an alliance between Nepal Trade Union Congress, affiliated to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s Nepali Congress party, and the All-Nepal Trade Union Federation (Revolutionary), loyal to the Maoists.
Although both the unions say they tried to dissuade workers from calling a strike on the eve of the April 10 election, protesters have made 15 demands to the management, including higher pay, free medical treatment, retirement benefits and free education for workers’ children.
The loss has caused Surya, which rolls out over 26 million cigarette sticks a day, a loss of millions of rupees.