Industrial corridor employees’ solidarity with jute mill workers
Biratnagar, January 8:
Expressing solidarity for the indefinite strike called by jute mill workers, workers at industries operating in the Sunsari-Morang industrial corridor have decided to shut the factories beginning Sunday.
“Labour representatives of the different trade unions at the industries decided today to shut the industries and join a street agitation from Sunday,” said labour leader Dharmananda Sanjel.The meeting also decided to submit a memorandum to the government urging it to implement the recently-announced minimum wage scale.
Such a decision of the workers has increased the chance for a closure of over 500 industries based in Sunsari and Morang.
Nine jute industries in the two districts have remained shut for the last two weeks seeking the minimum wage.
The workers complained that the administration, except urging them to return to work, had not taken any concrete step. The jute industrialists have, however, maintained that they cannot pay better wages considering that their products exported to India had been unable to compete with the Indian products.
Industrialist Champa Lal Rathi warned that the industries could close anytime if the workers’ demand were to be met, ruling out any possibility of the demanded pay hike.
Meanwhile, some jute industrialists left for Kathmandu to seek the government’s support for resolving the impasse. It is almost a week that the agitating workers have obstructed traffic in Biratnagar, Itahari, Rangeli and Birat Chowk, among other adjoining areas. They have also continued with their sit-in at the customs point for the last three days.