Attending the ILO AP RM: Ganesh Niroula, NTUC, Nepal

Very interesting to witness the tripartite dialogue, hearing what is being raised by all three parties per country. We can learn from good practices and lapses, so situations can improve for workers and productivity as well. We also learn about the situation of decent work and issues in Asia and the Pacific.

Many issues are raised, like the strike in South Korea and the brutal repression by government, or the unfriendly trade union reforms in India or Indonesia and diluting union policies. Certain governments aren’t providing space to organize or to do collective bargaining. For instance, in Nepal, legal strikes aren’t banned, but the Industrial Act passed in this year, specifies certain sectors that prohibit strikes completely. This legislation is stricter, because it prohibits strikes in a larger way than the essential services act, which wasn’t applied too strictly. The Nepali trade unions have filed a case before ILO regarding this legislation.

Through the two interventions from the Nepali workers’ joint representative, Ramesh, which were agreed upon beforehand between trade unions in the JTUCC, we were able to share what is the situation in Nepal regarding labour migration and skills. The employment agenda is discussed here and linked to productivity. Nepal has high unemployment and low productivity. By discussing here with policy makers and employers and learning on these topics, we hope to improve these two aspects.


I particularly appreciated the debate on the new technologies, and became more aware how we should prepare the Nepali workforce for this, either inside or outside of the country. The other topic is the labour migration, which are currently mostly unskilled. If they are better skilled, their working conditions would improve. Last topic which is very important is regarding the living wage and the discussion on the ILO convention on the minimum wage.