KATHMANDU, JUNE 12

Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has reaffirmed the government's commitment to implement the rights of workers.

Inaugurating the national conference of Nepal Trade Union Congress in Kathmandu today, PM Deuba reiterated that his government would leave no stone unturned to ensure full enforcement of the contribution-based Social Security Act.

'The private, formal and those involved in foreign employment would be included in social security,' Deuba said. He clarified that the government was not led by his party Nepali Congress alone, so it could not take decisions unilaterally.

'Based on the consensus forged in the current coalition government, the government will consider guaranteeing labourers all their rights,' the executive head of the government assured.

Furthermore, PM Deuba said that two recent moves of the incumbent government - increase in the salary of civil employees and social security to the senior citizens reaching 68 years - had also contributed to ensuring the rights of labourers.

Calling for collective efforts to make the labour market active, PM Deuba pledged to work towards job creation for labourers hit hard due to repercussions of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in the industrial sector.

Similarly, Nepal Trade Union Congress' President Pushkar Acharya said the Labour Act was introduced in 2017 during the leadership of Deuba and demanded its full implementation as he was in the same role now.

It may be noted that this is the fifth time that PM Deuba is serving as the head of the government. 'We would like to urge PM Deuba to deliver in terms of implementation of the Act,' Acharya said. He demanded the establishment of the Labour Court in all seven provinces and end to the situation in which labourers had to come to the federal capital for minor works.

Likewise, senior vice-president Mahendra Prasad Yadav lamented that it was a matter of sorrow that the Labour Commission mentioned in the Interim Constitution, 2007, was removed from the Constitution promulgated through the Constituent Assembly in 2015. He appealed to the Nepali Congress to incorporate issues related to labourers in its statute.

The NTUC was established in 1976. The union was led by former Prime Minister and NC President late Girija Prasad Koirala and had labourers working in a jute mill in Biratnagar.

Over 2,000 representatives from all 77 districts are participating in the two-day conference. The gathering will endorse the NTUC's policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal 2022-23.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 13, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.