After the restoration of democracy in 2046 B.S., Nepal went through a new phase of industrial development. Before the democratic movement, few people, who were from elite families, held most of the industries. But the scenario changed after the advent of the democratic system and the development of the real sector gathered momentum. Many industries were established, and thousands of people were employed by these industries. With the industrial development and employment growth, labour union activities increased significantly. The committees of labour unions were formed in almost all industries. But all unions were acting as wings of political parties. They were not much interested on professional activities and were mostly used by political parties as tools of mass mobilization. However, the unions showed their strong existence within country. Trade Union Act, Labor Act and many other laws and regulations were introduced further empowering labour union activities across the country.

Between 2048 B.S. and 2058 B.S., there were significant increase in real sector development and growth of employment opportunities. But, the gap between employee and employer had also widened to large extent with both sides afraid of each other. Employees got their collective bargaining right through Labor Act 2048, but they struggled to get only the basic facilities prescribed by the Act. At the time, they bargained charter of demand for basic things like minimum wage, issuance of appointment letter for jobs, arrangement of provident fund, attendance system along with other basic facilities at their workplaces such as rest rooms and cafeteria. These are basic rights of workers provisioned in the Labor Act, but employers hesitated to provide even such basic necessities. There was some valid reason too behind this hesitation. Employees who enjoyed these basic facilities decreased their efficiency and got involved in political activities to lose their working hours. Usually they were found to be loyal to their affiliated parties than the employers. 

After the political change of 2062-63 B.S., there was improvement in behaivour of both employers and trade unions. Although the labour union affiliated to the then Maoist party had appeared as a new player in the trade union movement, trade unions affiliated to other political parties showed maturity. They exhibited some matured behaviours during collective bargaining; they bargain for safety and social security of a workers. In my opinion, this was very crucial time for the Nepali industrial sector at a time when many industries closed down forever. Few industries like cement, however, could still survive and grow.

After the promulgation of the new Constitution in 2072 B.S., a ray of hope spread all over the country. The recent years have seen drafting of several new acts and regulations, and amendments of the existing laws such as Labor Act, Social Security Act and regulations that have changed trend of collective bargaining in Nepal. These legal improvements have given opportunities to all concerned parties. Employers and employees both have been ensured significant rights. Moreover, workers have benefitted from the arrangement of social security for their future. Now the discourses related to collective bargaining have shifted to occupational health and safety, social security, dignity and respect of works. Employee don’t need to bargain for basic facilities that have been provisioned in the Labour Act. That’s why the charter of demands has shortened to few demands. Now, most of the collective bargaining are reaching to an agreement mutually and cordially. Thus, there are no big disputes in the industries now apart from some exceptional cases.

As it is in the ILO Convention article no 154 and our country has ratified it, we could not escape away from collective bargaining.  For sustainable development of industries, collective bargaining should address interests of both employees and employers on more professional ways.

As an active HR professional, I have witnessed all three stages of industrial development that occurs in Nepal after 2046 B.S. In the last 30 years of my carrier, I have had enormous chance to actively participate on collective bargaining in several industries. Sometimes the negotiations reached to an easy conclusion, and other times it created big chaos to the industry. We were able to resolve collective bargaining on easy and cordial manner where organization was financially healthier with good systems and working environment. Sometimes we faced long disputes and disturbances such as strikes at those organizations where management system was not functioning well, and the institutions were financially weak. Collective bargaining is an essential tool to settle disputes in industries and it easily works where all management function, system working environment, legal compliances are transparent and reachable to all employee.

Source: Liberty of HR Thoughts