The global effort to combat the climate crisis will not change unless there is a judicial transformation agenda and meaningful representation and dialogue of workers, said Laxman Sharma, General Secretary of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT).

General Secretary Sharma made this statement at the national discussion program of civil society and consultants on the Climate Conference 2024 in Kathmandu on November 6.

General Secretary Sharma said that the issues of climate change and judicial transformation have been left out of the discussions held by civil societies, emphasizing the need to pay attention to green employment and social security.

Clarifying the strategies to be adopted to obtain the climate finance that Nepal should receive in a fair manner and to distribute it fairly, General Secretary Sharma said that there will be no climate justice without decent labor and green employment, social justice in the labor market, and judicial transformation.

During the program, GEFONT Vice President Sita Lama and National Committee Member Suman Parajuli raised issues including the impact of climate change on workers’ employment and the participation of workers’ representatives in the upcoming COP conference in Azerbaijan.
 

The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) has decided to launch the “GEFONT Rejuvenation Campaign 2081” to strengthen the organization.

The 112th meeting held at the GEFONT Assembly Hall on November 13 under the chairmanship of GEFONT President Binod Shrestha decided to hold the campaign from December to April.

The campaign includes membership renewal and expansion, committee formation and reorganization, updating statistics on member and committee status up to the basic level, and conducting theoretical and political training up to the basic standard of GEFONT.

The meeting also decided to facilitate the campaign operation by secretaries under the leadership of the GEFONT Provincial Presidents.

The meeting approved the organizational report presented by GEFONT General Secretary Laxman Sharma and the financial report presented by Financial Manager Baburam Koirala.

In the meeting, CPN-UML Standing Committee member and in-charge of Mass Organization Coordination, Bhanubhakta Dhakal, shed light on the coordination of mass organizations and the party, and the current political climate in the country.

National Committee members Maya Bhandari, Rudra Khatri, Maya Gurung, Ananda Thami, Narayan Neupane, Kamlesh Jha, Ramhari Nepal and Chandra Sagar Lama, Madhav Poudel, Shanta Basnet, among others, expressed their views in the meeting.
 

The GEFONT family is shocked by the untimely demise of Comrade Dhan Bahadur Shrestha, a member of the Jute, Textile, Garment and Carpet Workers’ Union Nepal (JTG-CWUN), an affiliate of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) and a former member of the CPN-UML Workers Special District Committee, on November 7.

In this sad time, GEFONT has expressed its heartfelt tribute to late Shrestha and expressed its condolences to the bereaved family.

A brief tribute meeting was organized at Pashupati on November 11 before the cremation of the late Shrestha.

At the tribute meeting, CPN-UML Politburo member and GEFONT President Binod Shrestha draped the party flag.

Similarly, GEFONT Vice President Jitendra Shrestha and Sita Lama paid tribute by hoisting the GEFONT flag and JTG-CWUN President Arjun Adhikari paid tribute by hoisting the union flag.

Late Dhan Bahadur Shrestha, a resident of Ward No. 3 of Sailung Rural Municipality, Dolakha District, had been living in Kathmandu since 1989 for employment.

Late Shrestha passed away untimely on the way back from the Muktinath pilgrimage with his family on November 7.
 

On November 16, the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) and affiliated climate activists’ organizations organized a “prabhat pheri” in Kathmandu, demanding equitable and just climate finance at the ongoing COP29.

The “prabhat pheri”, which started from Bhrikuti Mandap with placards on the problems faced by the entire country due to climate change and the impact on workers’ employment and the need to ensure decent work and social security for workers, turned into a “kodsabha” at Shanti Batika in Ratna Park.

At the “kodsabha”, GEFONT Vice President and Nepal Coordinator of the Alliance Against Inequality, Sita Lama, highlighted the impact of the climate crisis on communities nationwide and the impact on workers’ livelihoods from mountain tourism to agriculture, and demanded that the ongoing COP29 meeting provide justice to citizens and workers from communities in underdeveloped and developing countries.

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