The government has hiked the minimum monthly salary of industrial workers by 29 percent to Rs 8,000. According to a notice published in the Nepal Gazette, factory workers will get Rs 5,100 as basic pay and Rs 2,900 as dearness allowance per month. The daily wage has been fixed at Rs 318 as per the revised compensation package.

Earlier, the minimum monthly salary of workers was Rs 6,200 (basic salary of Rs 3,550 and dearness allowance of Rs 2,650) and the daily wage was Rs 231.

Two weeks ago, the Minimum Wage Determination Committee consisting of employers, trade unions and the government had decided to increase the workers’ basic monthly salary by 43.66 percent, dearness allowance by 9.44 percent and daily wage by 37.66 percent. The tripartite committee then sent the remuneration plan to the Ministry of Labour and Employment which okayed the proposal last week.

“The ministry approved the package a week ago and asked the government to publish it in the Gazette,” said Krishna Hari Puskar, director general of the Department of Labour which represented the government in the committee.

Meanwhile, Hansha Ram Pandey, director of the Employers’ Council at the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), said the new wage structure would be fully implemented next month. “For this month, the new rate will apply to only the remaining days in the month,” he said.

Manish Kumar Agrawal, vice-chairman of the Employers’ Council, said timely revision of the minimum wage and prompt endorsement by the government has prevented possible industrial unrest. “The employers are committed to providing the promised remuneration, and they also expect cooperation from the employees,” he said.

Trade union officials who participated in the salary negotiations said they would begin a collective bargaining process across the country on Friday to update the salary scale as per the latest structure. “The revision, however, will be done at the individual firms between the employers and the workers, and the central level trade unions will not be involved,” said Bishnu Rimal, chairman of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Union (GEFONT). Employers who have been paying their workers more than the new minimum rate will not be forced to give a raise, he added.

“The collective bargaining will also resolve other issues besides the pay hike,” said Rimal. “Pending issues like bonus, promotion, social security and employees provident fund, among others, will be discussed and finalized during the collective bargaining.”

He added that once these issues were settled, workers across the country would not demand a raise for the next two years.

The trade unions were represented in the negotiations by the Joint Trade Union Coordination Centre (JTUCC), a common forum of 11 trade unions.

Published on: 13 June 2013 | The Kathmandu Post