The 17th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of the International Labour Organization was held in Singapore from 6 to 9 December.

GEFONT President Binod Shrestha, General Secretary Laxman Sharma and representatives from the Nepal government, JTUCC, NTUC and ANTUF participated in the meeting which was inaugurated by Singapore President Halim Yakob

 

In the report presented by ILO Director-General Gilbert Houngbo on "Renewed Social Justice for Human Centered Recovery", governments, workers and representatives of employers from different countries presented their outlook.

At the meeting, a special session organized by Qatar on the example of Qatar on Occupational Health and Safety fundamental rights on behalf of GEFONT General Secretary Laxman Sharma emphasized that the government has already announced that Nepalese workers going abroad will be covered by social security.

Meanwhile, a special discussion was held in a separate meeting with the Singapore Labour ministry, GEFONT President Binod Shrestha,  GEFONT General Secretary Laxman Sharma and ITUC General Secretary, ILO General Director.

General Federation of Nepalese Trade Union (GEFONT) has celebrated International Migrant Workers Day in Kathmandu with the slogan of social security for the secure future of Migrant workers.

In the program occasion of the Day, GEFONT President Binod Shrestha said that the federation is constantly raising its voice to apply social Security to workers going to foreign employment and expressed the hope that will be implemented soon. In order to bring foreign workers into the scope of social security, it is necessary to make it easier for them to join the social security system saying that he further added, "We need to remove the frailty in the issued procedure and implement it gradually.

 

Government is only concerned about power and has no concern or interest in labour and workers saying that they are forced to go abroad in large numbers every year. He opined that the number of foreign workers increased by 377 percent in the first year after the formation of the coalition government, but the inflow of remittances did not increase in proportion, so the government was in favour of the informal economy.

President said that the amount earned by Nepali workers abroad is abnormally low in Nepal and he said that the government should respond to this. In the last fiscal year, there was a 377 per cent increase in the number of people going for foreign employment, but there was only a 4.8 per cent increase in remittances to Nepal. Therefore, GEFONT said that there is room for suspicion.

In the first year after the pandemic of COVID -19, the increase in the number of workers going to foreign employment by 377 percent has presented a frightening picture of the migration of the young labour force in Nepal. GEFONT also said that this is an indicator of evil for the country.

Speaking at the program, Hari Thapa expressed the view that it is necessary to connect social security with employers in the destination country. He emphasized creating an environment where the employers of the destination country contribute to the social security fund for the labours going from Nepal to work. He also praised the work done by GEFONT to make fair foreign employment.

Speaking at the Program, Migrant Trade Union Korea President Uday Rai informed that migrant workers who go to work in South Korea are also exploited and there are problems such as workers not being able to change employers as per their interest, being forced to work excessively hours, etc.

In the program conducted by GEFONT Deputy Secretary General Naranath Luitel, a documentary was screened titled Stories of Injuries of Migrant Workers in Qatar produced by GEFONT.

General Federation of Nepalese Trade Union (GEFONT) has organized an interaction program on communication with media on posh 21 at Alpha house Baneshwor. In the program, a video was presented by the GEFONT in the labour world from the inception of GEFONT to the eve of the 8th congress, While GEFONT President Binod Shrestha presented the policies and programs prepared by the convention for four years. 

Speaking that new ways of exploiting workers are commencing developed in tourism schools and business transportation as training; he said that GEFONT will be active to clear up.

 

A campaign gets commenced to get 2 million workers to join contribution-based social security. GEFONT will start a campaign to register workers and list them in every municipality saying that President Shrestha further added that they will proceed by collaborating with the media to address the issue of workers.

In the program Secretary of the CPN UML, publicity department Gagan Bista said that the worker's issues are sensitive and the media should support it.

GEFONT Vice President Jitendra Shrestha stated that GEFONT had begun a dialogue about how GEFONT can collaborate with the media about the labour world and stressed it should be continued. He thanked everyone for accepting the invitation, saying that journalists are also working class working in the communication sector and can cooperate with the trade union and move forward for African rights.

GEFONT Publicity department secretary Mahendra Shrestha said that although GEFONT has played a leading role in advocacy and problem-solving for a long time, the issue could not be established due to lack of coordination with the media, and said that in the future, cooperation with the media is necessary for addressing the labour issue.

In the program, the media persons said that although GEFONT has been playing a leading role in labour issues since its inception, due to the lack of cooperation and coordination with the media, it has not been able to address as much as it should.

In the program where the journalists suggested that the organization should work for reporting by forming a group of journalists to look at labour issues and issues, they said that they are ready to cooperate with GEFONT as the journalists themselves are working class.

The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Union GEFONT  support group in Malaysia concluded the 5th convention in Malaysia on January 22  2022.

On occasion, GEFONT President Binod Shrestha provide information about migrant workers and said that GEFONT is always aware of the rights of workers.

After a long struggle of GEFONT, Nepal has recently arranged to participate in a social security program for migrant workers, which is being started in April/May. He pointed out that GEFONT is trying to get voting rights from migration.

 

Dilliraj Poudel, the Nepalese Ambassador to Malaysia, expressed the opinion that the GEFONT Support Group (GSG) should work as the first coordinator of the workers working in Malaysia. He informed that the embassy always wants to work closely with the GEFONT support group (GSG) and will work together to solve the problems of Nepali migrant workers.

In the program, MTUC President JH Mohammed appreciated GEFONT and informed that he is ready to cooperate more by revising the MoU made earlier between the two unions in the future.GEFONT Foreign department secretary Smritee Lama express her gratitude to all those to make the convention successful even in a short period of time and made clear the duties and works of GSG. MTUC President JH Mohamad, Food and Beverage Union Malaysia President Maatkar Bean, and MTUC Deputy General Secretary Mohamad Khairi participated in the inaugural session of the convention.

 

Former General Secretary of PSM Party Shivaranjani former advisor of Help Madhesi Malaysia Jay Prakash Shah, , Saroj Shah The program was attended by representatives, volunteers and members of various regional committees of GEFONT Malaysia.

 

In the convention, President Binod Shrestha was the president of the election committee including members are GEFONT Secretary Smritee Lama, Bedkumar Khatiwada and Prem Kumar Magar, Bibek Limbu, Hukum Thapa and Bedprasad Aacharya. The convention has unanimously elected a new committee of GSG Malaysia. The newly elected committee was formed under the presidency of Bibek Limbu, there are 31 members including four Vice presidents and three women members.

 

President Binod Shrestha congratulated the newly elected committee with instructions. Similarly, GEFONT Secretary Smritee Lama explained the works, duties and responsibilities of the newly elected committee

170 Nepalese workers from different companies attendees the program hosted by Bed Kumar Khatiwada and presided over by Prem Kumar Magar.
 

General Federation of Nepalese Trade Union GEFONT Udayapur district concluded fundamental trade union education and the Social Security program on June 1 and 2 in Katari and Triyuga Municipality.

The program, Deputy Mayor of Katari sub municipality Gita Khadka, and GEFONT National committee member Maya Bhandari were present at the program while GEFONT Vice President and Head of Education Department Bidur Karki were present as a chief guest.

 

The program has formed the 9 members GEFONT Katari local committee under the presidency of Santa Bahadur Tamang.

Similarly, in the program at the assembly hall of Nepal Nijamati staff union in Triyuga Municipality on June 2, GEFONT Vice President Bidur Karki addressed the audience as the chief guest, shedding light on the fundamental trade union education and Contribution-based Social Security program.

 

The program was chaired by GEFONT local committee President Jash Bahadur Rai while Deputy Mayor of Katari sub-municipality Gita Khadka and GEFONT National committee member Maya Bhandari were present at the program.

GEFONT Support Group Kuwait (GSG-Kuwait) and Kuwait Trade Union Federation jointly organized a program on June 19th to educate Nepalese migrant workers about insurance coverage in case of job-related accidents in Kuwait and the program aimed to raise awareness about their rights under Kuwaiti labour laws during unfortunate workplace incidents.

 

Kuwaiti representative Junaid Abudi and legal experts from Kuwait informed the participants about the health and safety of migrant workers and the provisions of accident insurance under Kuwaiti labour laws.

Ganesh Rawat, coordinator of Nepali Migrant Workers Union, GEFONT Support Group, Kuwait, chaired the program, while Al Arda, general secretary of Kuwait Trade Union Federation, conducted it.