Solidarity across borders: trade unions from Nepal to Belgium

To look into adapting trade unions to a federal state, social elections and social security, the leadership of the three main Nepali trade unions came to Belgium end of October 2016 with the support of World Solidarity (WSM) and the largest Belgian trade union, ACV-CSC. 

Nepal is going through a lot of changes currently. After the 2015 earthquakes and the end of an eight year transition, a constitution was proclaimed which turns the mountainous country into a federal state, with seven provinces. This will also mean changes in the structures for the three Nepali trade unions, which are looking into how to re-organize themselves and the social elections. Also, a draft Social Security Act is before Parliament, which provides historical universal coverage to all workers in Nepal through an initial four schemes: unemployment, maternity leave, retirement and Medicare. These big steps of progress also bring lots of questions for the trade union movement.

United under the JTUCC umbrella, six Presidents and General Secretaries from the three ITUC affiliates in Nepal, each with their own ideology, history and approach, came in a joint visit to Brussels, hosted by WSM and ACV-CSC. They showed how social elections are organized in Belgium, from the plant-level campaigning to the humorous catchy videos made by the confederation to discuss topics like burn-outs and balancing private and professional life. The catch phrase of the 2016 elections “Your work is our job” met with approval from the Nepali. A sector-wide social election was held in Nepal for the first time for public servants in May 2016. The Nepali system however currently focuses on the plant level, where elections mandate the winning trade union to negotiate solely with management for the next two years. Belgium has taken another route, with social elections organized nationwide every four years, mobilising candidates and resources to have elected workers from all trade unions representing workers’ interests in company level bodies. While often trade unions have to work together to defend workers’ issues, they are also competing during the social elections to consolidate their base and position. Good results in elections validate and boost the approach and issues a trade union works on, and will strengthen its bargaining power considerably. But fundamentally, as one participant said: “This is the basis of an economic democracy, with all workers expressing themselves.”
Also the possibilities and benefits of institutionalizing social dialogue at various levels were discussed. As Marc Leemans, President of ACV-CSC explained: “Collective bargaining in Belgium starts at the national level, and any agreement there serves as a minimum from which afterwards, on a sectoral level, more can still be obtained for workers regarding minimum wages or other labour standards.”

The Nepali delegation and ACV-CSC also discussed social security and current challenges in Belgium and Europe, where these systems are under attack. This also has its importance when federalizing a country and delegates highlighted how important it is to keep social security and labour acts on a federal level, to avoid companies displacing internally, creating internal social dumping. Another phenomena which led to interesting exchanges is regarding the informal economy. While the Nepal informal economy has always been important and key sectors for organizing by the Nepali trade unions, Belgium is increasingly seeing apps like Uber informalise sectors like the taxi- or hotel industry. Since these “self-employed” pay no taxes or aren’t covered by social security, trade unions in Belgium also have to adapt and strategize on these issues.

The visit included ACV-BIE, the construction federation in Belgium with which the Nepali trade unions already work regarding labour migration to the Gulf States. The delegation also went to the regional ACV service center in Brussels, which handles the unemployment benefits for their members. The six Nepali leaders finally also took the opportunity of their weeklong stay in Brussels to interact with policy makers from Belgian Foreign Aid, the EU. They also dropped by the ITUC, as well as did some sightseeing to the Atomium and mini-Europe.

From this visit, the Nepali delegates will determine with their respective trade unions what elements are relevant for Nepal, and use this as one of the basis for the upcoming JTUCC Labour Parliament, scheduled for the 14th of December in Kathmandu, in presence of ILO Director, Guy Ryder.