The government's preparations to form a public limited company or outsource support staff are making the jobs of thousands of contract employees insecure.
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Contract employees have protested as the government prepares to change the current framework for hiring ungraded support staff.
A task force under the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has proposed that employees required for support services and general technical services can be hired through public companies or outsourcing.
Contract employees, concerned about job security, have left their jobs and started meeting ministers and secretaries at Singha Durbar to express their concerns. The employment period of contract employees working in ministries, departments and various bodies is renewed every Shrawan. However, they are worried about losing their jobs when the renewal is due. More than a hundred contract employees gathered at Singha Durbar on Tuesday. They met Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration Pratibha Rawal and expressed their views. Similarly, they have also met Finance Secretary Ghanshyam Upadhyaya and Law Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office Pushkar Sapkota.
The government is conducting a survey on the organization and management of all ministries and subordinate bodies. For that, a high-level task force has been formed under the leadership of Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Kiran Raj Sharma. The task force also includes six other secretaries from various ministries. The meeting of the task force on 22 Ashad has proposed a system of establishing a public limited company under the government or outsourcing support staff. The decision states that policy clarity will be provided on the establishment of a public company limited under the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, Federal Affairs and General Administration or outsourcing.
This has been stated in the decision of the task force regarding the management of manpower required for technical services of a general nature such as cleaners, office assistants, plumbers, gardeners, gardeners, mechanics, malep beruju, etc., as well as for auxiliary or general technical services. Currently, employees are employed on contract in such positions. The high-level task force has asked all ministries to keep the manpower currently available for such service delivery in a single pool.
The task force has also asked the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration to immediately start work to make new arrangements by converting the current structure of auxiliary employees and completing it within the next 3 months. After the decision of the high-level task force reached the ministries, the employees working on contract have organized and started raising their issues. ‘We are being targeted every time the government changes, whoever comes tries to remove us,’ said Chiranjivi Nepal, a contract employee at the Survey Department. ‘It is not right to try to remove thousands of employees without providing them with a livelihood. We are telling the same thing to the minister and secretary.’
Jitendra Mishra, who worked in an assistant position in the former Ministry of Youth and Sports, says that contract employees have been left stranded after the reorganization of the ministry. He said that since the assistant employees are now being ‘outsourced’, the jobs of all contract employees are in danger. The youth-related issues of the Ministry of Youth and Sports have been merged with the Ministry of Labor and Employment, while sports are under the Ministry of Education. Permanent employees have been divided into two ministries. However, the management of contract employees has not been done yet, Mishra said.
Shyam Sapkota, chairman of the Temporary Contract, Wage-Employed Employees Joint Struggle Committee, said that the government’s efforts to send employees who have been working on contract for 20/25 years home empty-handed are unacceptable. ‘Working employees should not be dismissed, their contracts should be renewed regularly from the month of Shrawan,’ Sapkota said. ‘The first issue is job security.’ Second, in the event of layoffs due to reduction in posts, they should not be sent home empty-handed. We have said this after meeting the minister and secretary.’
In a meeting with contract employees, Minister Rawal has asked them not to interpret the circular from the high-level task force as a decision. ‘No decision has been made on the implementation of the circular.’ She told the contract employees, ‘No decision will be made that will be unfair to you.’ Even after the assurance from the minister, the contract employees are not convinced. Employees say that even if the assurance is positive, they will continue to exert pressure until the contract is renewed.’
Chairman Sapkota has said that there are around 15,000 contract employees in the bodies under the federal government. The Ministry of General Administration or the Staff Bookstore does not have details of the number of employees working on contracts. Ministry spokesperson Ekdev Adhikari said that the ministry does not have all the details as the ministry or agency hires employees on contracts according to its needs. Similarly, Sudan Khwakhali Shrestha, Information Officer of the Bookstore, also said that the details of employees working on contracts are not available in the Bookstore.
The contract employees are demanding that if the new organization and management survey results in a situation where they have to go home due to reduction in posts, they be given gratuities and other facilities as per the Supreme Court order. ‘If the posts are cut, we are ready to support if the government brings a new policy,’ said Sangharsh Samiti General Secretary Chiranjivi Nepal. ‘However, the government should make arrangements to give us appropriate gratuities in the event of dismissal.’ He mentioned that the Supreme Court had also ruled that gratuities or compensation should be given to contract employees when they are dismissed from service, and that it should be implemented.
The Supreme Court on 9 Magh 2070 had issued a directive order to the government to make appropriate arrangements so that when removing a contract employee under the civil service, he can receive something in some form, such as gratuity or compensation, based on his service period.
After the government adopted a policy of not hiring temporary employees, employees have been recruited on contract in non-graded positions since 2057 BS. A large number of employees recruited on contract are also working at the provincial and local levels. General Secretary Nepal said that in the context of the union enacting a law and introducing a new policy regarding contract employees, more than 8,000 provincial and 30,000 local contract employees will be affected.
