A faction of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) has announced it will padlock the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) from Wednesday for failing to address issues surrounding the foreign employment industry. During a press conference on Tuesday, around 250 NAFEA members announced they will padlock the department for two hours on Wednesday.

 “We will shut down the department on Friday if the government doesn’t address our demands by then,” said Bimal Dhakal, the coordinator of a 41-member Joint Struggle Committee of the NAFEA agitating faction. The 11 demands forwarded by the disgruntled NAFEA members include: resolving the NAFEAs internal disputes, the termination of unfriendly foreign employment laws, policies, and regulations. However, the establishment faction headed by the NAFEAs Chairman Bal Bahadur Tamang has not supported the strike.

The Joint Struggle Committee said the NAFEA establishment is working against the interests of manpower entrepreneurs. They criticised the NAFEA chairman of failing to perform his duty, which is to defend the rights of the manpower agencies and migrant workers.

They accused the government officials of giving higher emphasis to Tamang while dismissing the dissident faction. 

 “He (Tamang) doesn’t have any valid ground to support the government in its decision which is directly opposed to the interests of the migrant workers and recruiting agencies. We don’t recognise him,” said Prem Katuwal, advisor of the Joint Struggle Committee. He said that the government must intervene to end the association’s long-term internal dispute and end the authority of the incumbent chairman. “Moreover, we want an end to all the outdated, unscientific and overlapping governmental work procedures. Most of the laws and regulation must be revised or amended as soon as possible”

The agitated factions had made two attempts to impeach Tamang, but failed to garner adequate support. The dispute escalated further when Tamang said that over 99 percent of workers going abroad use fake work contracts to avoid any bureaucratic hassle.

Earlier, the District Administration Office directed to internally resolve the dispute.

The leadership faction said the announcement of the protest is politically motivated and against the association's code of conduct. Tamang said it would be irrational for the manpower entrepreneurs to impose a strike with the government working to address challenges faced by the workers. “The labour ministry and concerned departments are ready to address all the challenges by fulfilling our demands. We should understand that everything takes time. There are few people who do not want reformation in the industry,” said Tamang.

The department officials refused to comment about the scheduled strike but they have been giving prompt and transparent service to recruiting agencies and workers.

Published on: 11 September 2013 | The Kathmandu Post