Nepal's Himal Power to pay $2m to protesting workers

Himal Power Limited is giving away $2 million (about Rs 160 million) to

protesting workers to settle one and half months long labor dispute at the power company.

A total of 89 employees working for the company that operates 60MW Khimti I hydropower

project launched a hunger strike on Dec 16 after they found their jobs taken away by

recruits of G4S -- an outsourcing company.

The hunger strike was called off a month later after the Himal Power management agreed to

temporarily put labor outsourcing agreement with G4S on hold.

Since that time the workers have been staging sit-in protest in front of the power plant´s

office in Dolakha, while holding talks with the company mediated by the Ministry of Labor

and Transport Management.

During these talks, the workers initially demanded that the company enroll them into its

payroll. But the company refused to accept the demand, saying that they were not a

liability of the company as they were recruited by an outsourcing firm called Khimti

Services, contract with which was terminated by Himal Power on Dec 15 due to “lack of

transparency in structure, policies, procedures and audited financials".

Despite this, Himal Power agreed to pay the protesting workers off as they were transferred

to Khimti Services by the company itself around 11 years ago.

As per the ´golden handshake´ agreement, the power company will provide $2 million, at an

exchange rate of Rs 80, to Khimti Services, minutes of the meeting held between the

management and protesting workers and mediated by the labor department show. Himal Power

has agreed to pay value added tax on the amount but the tax deductible at source liability

will have to be borne by Khimti Services.

Although how and when the amount will be distributed among workers has yet to be decided,

Ram Krishna Bhandari, one of the staff of Khimti Services, told Republica that each

employee, who lost job, stands to get at least Rs 100,000 and up to Rs 175,000 for each

year of service at the company.

Simply put, an employee, who has worked for 10 years, will get at least Rs 1 million and up

to Rs 1.75 million in compensation. Workers at Himal Power were getting around Rs 10,000 to

Rs 36,000 per month, according to Bhandari.

However, those who want to continue working for Himal Power through another outsourcing

company will only get 50 percent of the compensation amount, the agreement states.

The agreement also says the signing of the ´golden handshake´ agreement automatically

annuls other pacts signed between workers and the management of Himal Power. This clause

was included to overwrite the ruling of the Labor Tribunal, which had asked the power

company to equally distribute bonus amount among employees of Khimti Services and those

hired by Himal Power itself.

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