Employees went on strike in protest for a pay raise

KATHMANDU, March 12: They locked the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) office and demanded a pay raise of 50% for those employed in the tourism and travel industry.

The umbrella organization of tour and travel entrepreneur, NATTA, failed to reach a bilateral meeting on Thursday.

The workers involved in tour and travel are currently getting a minimum of 2,350 to a maximum of 3,800 rupees per day according to the contract four years ago.

Prashant Dhungana, president of the Integrated Tourism Workers Organization of Nepal, informed that the lockout was due to the fact that they could not work in the current situation as per the previous agreement, despite repeated pressure to reconsider the salary.

Apart from hotels, 6 different organizations of the workers of companies related to tourism are now jointly protesting. He alleges that since CN Pandey was the president of Natta four years ago when he was the president of NATTA, the agreement was reached with the labor unions and even now, NATTA has ignored the request for coordination.

4.560 people are working with licenses in tour and travel. According to the Labor Act 2074, according to sections 54 and 55, the workers in the tour sector should be provided with medical insurance, accident insurance and payment according to section 56.

Similarly, according to the Social Security Act 2075 based on contribution, all tour guides have been requested to participate in the social security fund as well as stop the arrangement of foreigners who are working as tour leaders in the tour and travel sector without obtaining a work permit.

NATTA President Ramesh Thapa issued a statement opposing the lockout by the workers. He has also requested to open the locks immediately, saying that the workers' movement will have a negative impact when the tourism sector, which has shrunk after Covid, is under the grip of high interest rates from the banks.

NATTA has also announced that they cannot meet the demands of the workers because they are not an employer company. According to former president Achyut Guragai, it is not appropriate to connect the demands to be fulfilled by the related companies with Natta.