Kathmandu, August 29:

Protest against the new regulation by the employees of Nepal Bank Ltd (NBL) continued for the second day today halting daily activities at the Kathmandu banking office. 600 employees of the bank refused to work in protest of the newly introduced employees’ regulation, saying it an ‘autocratic document’.

According to a joint press release issued here by Nepal Bank Employees Association (NBEA) and Nepal Financial Institutions Employees Association (NFIEA), the agitated employees also chanted slogan against the NBL management. The unions’ major demands include free trade union activities, withdrawal of the provisions of automatic retirement for an employee working for 15 years at the same post and termination of service after 30 years without any gratuity and annulling trade union rights. Premal Kumar Khanal, general secretary of NBEA said that the agitation would continue until the management agrees on their 55-point demands. He also informed that all the employees of 17 branch offices in Kathmandu would stage protest from tomorrow.

The management, meanwhile, has refuted the trade unions’ allegations of a provision, barring managerial level staff from being involved in trade union activities, as illogical. “It is a continuation of 1991 regulation, which clearly states that no managerial level staff can take part in trade union activities,” states a press release.

Interestingly, the unions have also demanded of letting their 20 leaders to work only for union, though they are the bank’s emplo-yees and draw salary from bank. “The management will be forced to take stringent actions as per the provision of the Essential Services Act,” the bank warned.