Tourism workers affiliated to the Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist has threatened to padlock more than a dozen travel and trekking companies.

All Nepal Revolutionary Tourism Union (ANRTWU) has sent letters to different travel and trekking companies, urging them to provide all pending salary and benefits to workers at the earliest. It has also asked these companies not to adopt ´hire and fire´ policy and requested it to reinstate all the fired staff members. The union has sent letters to 14 companies, including Himalaya Expeditions, Explore Himalaya, Peak Promotion and Himalayan Guides, among others.

Avisekh Pande, deputy managing director of Himalaya Expeditions, said workers affiliated with the union chanted slogans at the company´s Sanepa-based office on Tuesday, asking the management to fulfill all their demands at the earliest. He also said the workers have been threatening to take life of the company´s legal advisor.

“As trekking and mountaineering activities are seasonal, we pay the workers accordingly. But they have been asking us to pay annual salary and benefits which is not practical,” Pande said, adding, “We can only pay the workers when they go on trekking or mountaineering expeditions.”

Senior tourism entrepreneur Bikram Pande said threats and impractical demands will hamper the overall tourism industry. “Those who put forward such impractical demands cannot be called workers,” said Bikram.

Meanwhile, Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) - the umbrella body of trekking agents in the country - has said it take appropriate decision to counter such threats.

Published on: 20 August 2014 | Republica