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Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day to all of us. Every year, our trade unions, be the majdoors or even our sarkari karmachaaris bring out rallies and what not to celebrate Majdoor Diwas. But in reality, our workers have been exploited for decades with exploitative wages while sahujis have gotten fatter and civil servants have aligned themselves with their respective political parties to get favorable postings and promotions.

Most of our old school political parties have hundreds of sister organizations and each have their own trade unions as well. The union leaders are rich, while the workers have been used for mass rallies and to shut down industries for political reasons and extortions as well.

The government minimum wage is almost 20K now but nobody is really paying the minimum at all. If we look at our nurses in private hospitals, they are getting paid 10 to 15 while most sales girls in departmental stores barely make 12. The majority of the staff who work for media houses in Nepal haven't been paid for months or some even for years. How do they manage their bills when they don't get paid at all?

We see most of our big business houses' sahujis driving around town in Range Rovers while their employees make barely enough to take care of their families. And when the government investigates tax evasion, insider trading, and other shady acts, the business community warns the government that the economy will be in shambles.

Many of our billionaire byaparis boast about employing tens of thousands of folks. That's a good thing. But why aren't your employees able to afford a motorcycle while you vacation in Venice and have the dough to invest millions of dollars (not Rupees) in insurance companies?

We have our byaparis investing billions of Rupees in hospitals and hotels but when it comes to paying their staff, they act like they need to recover their investment first in a span of a few years instead of focusing on long-term growth. Even five-star hotels pay their staff peanuts compared to the profits they generate from their sales.

Yes, we need trade unions but not politically affiliated ones whose job is to extort the sahujis. Instead of the workers getting paid on time and wages in tune with the profits made, our sahujis bribe the trade unions leaders to prevent shut downs but workers do not see much benefit from being a member of a trade union.

It's time for the government to bring reform in regards to the labor rights and trade unions in this country. We cannot have trade union leaders building four-storey houses along the banks of the Bagmati River while workers live in moldy rooms without adequate plumbing and sanitation.

The so-called socialist and communist governments of the past never really cared for the workers. They were used for mass rallies and shutting down industries. Hope the Balen government makes it right. We are not against businesses. We are against shady businesses that make billions of Rupees in illegal profit while workers barely make enough to survive.

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