Going against the prevailing Labour Act, Baba Paper Mills Private Limited located at Sunsari’s Narsingh VDC-1 has fired as many as 130 workers during Dashain holidays.

According to a source, the Baba Paper Mills management expelled the workers on the pretext of hiring cheap foreign workers.

Manager Sukdev Yadav at the Paper Mills said that the industry had removed a total of 70 daily wage earners so far.

Apart from them, list of 44 temporary workers and staffs has been published notifying them about their expulsion.

Likewise, the industry has also removed 16 permanent workers for violating the Labour Act and Law for Labour Welfare.

More than 350 workers including permanent, temporary and daily basis are working in the industry currently.

Trade unions, however, have maintained silence though many workers working at the industry for a considerable time have been fired without without any prior notice.

A source at the Baba Paper Mills said that management took different parties-aligned to the trade unions into confidence and fired a large number of workers and staffs.

The Madhesi Trade Union Forum Nepal central Secretary Bipin Karna claimed that industry management had fired workers on the pretext of hiring cheap workers through contractors.

Karna clarified the management cannot remove the staffs without fulfilling due process.

“Those working in the industry for the past 18 years have been left in the lurch after the industry fired them during festive time,” Karna added.

He informed that they were preparing for agitation against the sudden removal of a large number of staffs from the mill.

Baba Paper Mills, however, said that it was forced to cut the staffs and workers after it shut cooking plant owing to load shedding.

Victim workers say that industrialist Pawan Rathi has lured the union leaders and fired the workers with an intention of hiring cheap labour from India.

Worker Brahamdev Meheta at the Baab Paper Mills said the industry had already hired over 40 Indian workers through contractor Subash Singh.

Labour woman leader Gunjadevi Urab said that workers were preparing to hit the street against the mass firing of the workers.

Manager Dukdev Yadav defended that the industry was compelled to expel the workers due to erratic power supply.

“Though we made mistake in firing some permanent workers, we removed others as per the existing Labour Act,” Yadav insisted.

Published on: 28 October 2012 |The Himalayan Times