Trade Unionism in Nepal Development and Role

Abstract

Nepal is one of the least developed country in the world with diverse topography and landlocked by the two highly populas and emerging economic powers (China and India). It has 23.1 million populations (2001), which is growing rapidly (more than 2% per annum)during the last three decades. About 90 percent of the labour force is concentrated in theinformal sector, mainly in agriculture. Overall employment in the country is not increased but the labour force is growing by 300 thousand annually. Consequently unemployment and under employment is serious in the country which leads to increase in level of poverty of its population. Trade union is the universal and spontaneous form of labour movement as the outcome of the capitalism in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries though ancient type oftrade union movement were in existence during fourteenth century too. Different scholars,trade unionists and institutions, define trade union differently but all they are concentrated mainly on the economic well being of the workers. The trade union movement not only varies in different countries, regions as well as continents but also varies from one period to another within the same country. There is no overall plan and universal accepted model of trade unions. Similarly the pattern of development, structure, organisation and objectives of the trade unions may vary. As a result of the growing importance of the trade union movement the trade unionists in almost all countries in the world realised the need of international cooperation and organisation to support it. World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) was organised in February 1945 as an international trade union center as a result of long efforts of national centres. Since the formation of International Confederations of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in 1949 national trade union federations have led further separation and exist partly competitiveness belonging with WFTU, ICFTU, and WCL (World Confederation of Labor). All the unions of the SAARC have several common characteristics such as low levelof union density, direct political affiliation, and fragmented union movement mainly because vii of political affiliation. Labor legislations are enacted but implementation part is very weak in all SAARC countries. The declining trend in the trade union membership all over the world especially in industrialised counties is not fully within the control of trade unions. Change in technology and its effects on employment are beyond the control of union but with some other changes union could have responded better and minimized the damage. The history of Nepalese trade unions goes back to 1947. The formation of ANTUCrecognized in 1950 was the first trade union federation in Nepal. During interim period few trade union centres were organised openly but they did not got legal status during thisperiod. The Panchayati rule forcefully imposed NLO instead of trade unions in 1963. After 19 year of continuous repression, in 1979 the historical mass movement gave rise to more than half dozen trade unions. But because of lack of enough coordination and understandingamong trade unions of different sectors, the formation of national center could not made possible. The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) has formally been registered as the first national trade union confederation in the country after the enactment of the Trade Union Act, which was established in 1989 as a follower of ANTUC. With the reestablishment of multiparty democracy in 1990 ban on trade unions waslifted. Consequently they start their activities openly. Immediate after the restoration of multiparty democracy Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC) came into existence as a follower of BWU. The trade union movement of modern lines came to be organized only after the enactment of Trade Union Act 1992 while ban on trade union was lifted and theywere recognized legally.Since the end of the 1997 the total number of registered trade unioncon federations reached three with the registration of Democratic Confederation of Nepalese Trade Unions (DECONT) separated from NTUC. Similarly large number of national federations and enterprise level unions are registered in different Regional Labour Offices. Since last few years union registration in informal sector and service sector is growing. As a result the number of enterprise levelunions increased rapidly after the introduction of Trade Union Act. With the second viii amendment of the Trade Union Act in 1999 it has become possible to unionise the informal sector workers too including agricultural workers and even self-employed. The Trade Union Act 1992 clearly explained distinct three-tire system of tradeunions in Nepal. They are:Enterprise Level Trade Union, Trade Union Federation and Confederations.During the short period of time Nepalese trade unions have been acquired a lot of improvements in various issues. Among them increase in membership, militancy,collective bargaining capacity and the changing attitude of the society towards trade union isconsidered as remarkable strengths. But Nepalese trade unions are suffering from various weaknesses such as low membership, multiplicity of unions on the one and on the other inter and intra union rivalry among unions, weak financial position, weak leadership, low level of wages, remarkable unemployment and underemployment situation in the country, etc. As a result of various awareness raising programmes training, workshop, education programmes, research and exposure programmes directed to the human resource development programmes conduced by the trade unions within a short period, the general workers, members and activists of trade unions from grass root to confederation level have been benefited. On the one the current changing environment of occupational structure made the gap between workers and management wider and wider on the other temporary, part time and seasonal workers has increased remarkably. It is evident that the proportion of white-collar employment has increased with the change in the occupational structure. Both of these situations are not favourable for union development. After the restoration of multiparty democracy Nepalese trade unions are raising voicein each and every aspect of labour welfare but preferably they focus on the issues of minimum wage, job security, social security, working conditions, occupational safety and health, unfair labour practices, fundamental trade union rights, etc. Significant proportion of trade union leaders and general workers belongs to the young age group (20-39). Role of themigrant workers (internal and external) is significant.Union leaders are partially satisfied with the provision of workers’ welfare included in the Trade Union Act 1992 but not satisfied on the implementation part. ix Different workers and union leaders evaluate trade unions and its activities differently. There is a diverse view regarding the beginning of the trade union movement ofNepal. Some had opined the trade union movement was developed on the influence of the trade union movement of India, where overwhelming majority viewed it was due to the internal necessity. Trade union movement of Nepal has been grown fast during last one decade mainly due to lift the ban on trade unions after the restoration of the multiparty democracy in 1990 and especially with the enactment of Trade Union Act in 1992. Along with the development of trade unions the socio-economic condition of the workers has increased though it is little.But still trade union movement of Nepal is facing various problems for its smooth functioning to fulfill its goal. The role of trade unions varies country to country. The variation depends upon thestage of economic and social development of the country, the strength of trade unions,institutional set up of the society in which they work, social responsibility of the union and capacity to reconcile it to their members. Nepalese trade unions have continually given emphasis to their common voices that the provisions of the existing labour laws are still not sufficient to safeguard the interests of the workers. On the other implementation and monitoring side of the existing labour laws is very weak and it become a major demand of the trade unions of Nepal. Trade union is not only a militant organisation to fight for workers’ welfare but alsoa social organisation and since last few years working for the moral, educational and cultural upliftment of the member of the society along with their economic welfare of the workers.They hope the workers will be benefited through the social development being a member of the society. There is a great debate on the issue whether trade union is a political organisation or professional organisation. Generally it is used to be saying that a trade union could not be apolitical institution but on the other it also could not be separate from politics. Thus tradeunion has to carry out various roles related to politics. x Trade union movement of Nepal reached in the present stage by passing different stages during its more than 50 years’ history. The nature of trade union’s role may differ in the past, present and future as the pace of change in the socio-economic and culturalsituation of the country that is accepted by all. Based on the present national and international situation it is assumed that trade union could not survive in the future without changing their role according to the changing situation of the country as well as abroad.Thus to sustain and strengthen trade union movement Nepalese trade unions should have to be directed their activities mainly to focus on policy issues addressing the negative effect of globalisation on trade union in the present context. Lastly, it can be conclude that Nepalese trade unions prefer to keep their individual identity but join hands with each other in certain issues of the workers. As a temporaryalliance they discuss among themselves various issues of common concern but such discussions cannot be viewed as a move towards merger of trade unions. The trade unions in Nepal do not confine their role merely to workplace issues. They frequently raising national issues in different forum but they do not have a common platform for voicing their opinion. In the present changing context both the unions and employers should have to agree honestly on participative management to save the establishment and employment of the working mass in the coming years. The study has suggested a number of proposals for the further development of the trade unions and research on various labour issues. Among them concept of workplaceunionism, regular allocation of budget for the workers’ organisation to conduct welfare activities, prioritization of women friendly programmes more effectively, address the wageissue preparing wage index for the workers working in different sectors and places, timely amendment and effective implementation of labour laws, extension of solidarity issue nationally and internationally, materialize the concept of single union to avoid the weaknesses caused by the multiplicity of the unions, implementation the concept of labour-management participation, organisation of a common platform of both the white and blue-collar workers are the major recommendations. Similarly, it is necessary to widely research on various aspects of the trade unions by the government, management and trade unions as well.