CPN-M-aligned trade union attack Ncell

KATHMANDU, MAR 20 - In what indicates the growing hostility of trade unions against the private sector, the country’s leading mobile operator Ncell was vandalised by CPN-Maoist-aligned trade union on Tuesday afternoon.

All Nepal Communication, Printing and Publications Workers Union (ANCPPWU) affiliated to the All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF)—a CPN-Maoist trade union wing—vandalised Ncell ’s head office in New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, damaging property and inflicting minor injuries on three company employees.

According to Ncell , the attack was carried out in a well-planned manner, as some of the attackers first sneaked into the NcellCentre located on the ground floor of the building and started vandalising

computers. When Ncell security guards and police personnel went inside the office to take the attackers under control, other group members gathered outside the building and started hurling stones, damaging window panes, furniture and walls, Ncell said in a statement.  The group also vandalised vehicles parked on the office premises.

Ncell has condemned the attack, terming it an “inhumane act”. “The incident has raised a

serious question over the law and order situation in the country,” said Sanju Koirala, corporate communications director at Ncell . “We demand the government take the situation seriously and punish the wrongdoers as per the law.”

However, the trade union has claimed that the workers were staging a peaceful sit-in, but the police chased them, ensuing a scuffle. “Three of our friends have been arrested,” said Ram Deep Acharya, coordinator of ANTUF. He said their protest would continue until Nepal Satellite Telecom (STM) reinstates 87 workers terminated last year.

Ncell ’s parent TeliaSonera had acquired a majority stake in NST last year. Koirala said since Ncell is a totally different business entity, the company cannot resolve the former NST employees’ concerns. NST has been saying that the workers left the company voluntarily under a “golden-handshake” scheme.

Other stockholders in NST include, Nepal’s Muktishree Group, Bangladesh’s Sheba Telecom and Pakistan Mobile Communications.

The workers have been staging the protest for the last one year demanding their reinstatement. In the past, as part of their protest, the trade union had damaged mobile towers of Ncell and NST located at various part of the country.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has condemned the attack. It said such an attack on a multinational company like Ncell would send a negative message about the country to the international arena. The FNCCI has demanded the government punish the attackers no matter whichever political parties back them.

The attack on Ncell is the second in a month by trade unions on the private sector. Members of a trade union affiliated to the UCPN (Maoist) had attacked Radisson Hotel Managing Director BK Shrestha at Bhanimandal, Jawalakhel, on March 16.