Workers at Unilever Nepal’s Hetauda factory ended their 28-day strike on Sunday after reaching a three-point agreement with the management.

The workers had been staging protests since July 10, demanding allocation of Rs200,000 as a “residential fund”. The workers said they were forced to intensify their agitation after the management refused to implement an agreement reached on May 29 over the “residential fund”.

After the factory started to incur losses due to the disruption, the management itself had locked the factory 17 days ago.

“The workers and the management have agreed to implement the past agreement,” said Janga Bahadur Bishwokarma, a worker. “We were forced to agitate after the management did not implement its past agreement.”

A meeting held at the District Administration Office on Sunday between the workers, management, labour office and local political leaders decided to settle the issue through the factory’s labour relation office after necessary discussion.

The management has also decided to reopen the factory issuing a notice. However, the plant is expected to resume its normal operation only after the meeting of its board of directors scheduled to be held in Mumbai, India on Thursday.

A senior company official said it will take some time for the factory to resume normal operation. “The factory was closed at the orders from the headquarters and it is awaiting another order to resume,” said the official.

Hetauda Labour Office chief Shyam Shrestha said the workers and the management have reached a three-point agreement. “The issue has been settled and the factory will resume within a few days,” he said.

Bishwokarma said the management has also agreed to reinstate seven workers who were suspended by the management last Tuesday on the charge of disrupting supplies.

According to a factory source, a one-day strike results in losses worth Rs5 million.

Unilever Nepal is multinational company dealing in fast moving consumer goods. The factory, established in 1993, employs 208 workers. Last fiscal year, its transactions stood at Rs4.87 billion and earned a net profit of Rs900 million.

Coca-Cola sales halted

DHARAN: The Beverage Distribution Society has halted sales of Coca-Cola for the past week. Fifty-one key distributors from Hetauda to Mechi have stopped the sales putting forth a four-point demand.

The society’s demands include stopping the appointment of new dealers, providing salaries and perks to pre-sellers, revision of the commission margin to dealers and settlement of the collateral money issue within a week.

Kausal Kishore Sah, treasurer of the society, said they halted the sales after Bottlers Nepal (Tarai) Limited, the producer of Coca-Cola, started to appoint new dealers neglecting the old ones. In Dharan, Coca-Cola had three dealers, but it recently added a new one.

Prakash Khadka, area sales manager of Coca-Cola, said they have not dismissed any dealers. “As most of the dealers have minimum investment, they have been allocated the areas as per their investment,” he said.

Bottlers Nepal (Tarai) Limited, the producer of Coca-Cola, has been incurring losses of Rs60 million daily after the sales disruption, said sources. (PR)