May 1st with Radio Lumbini and the Danish Labour Union LO

By Anne Mette Nordfalk

04. May 2008

In Rupendehi district in southern Nepal there are three trade unions for each trade, because each is affiliated with one of the big parties CPN-M, CPN-UML and Nepali Congress. Radio Lumbini has decided to spend this labour day questioning this practice as it is arguably weakening the force of the labour movement when three parties are fighting the same causes without collaboration. The programmes of labour day is part of a series of programmes that are sponsored by Danish citizens through a collection organized by the Danish Labour Union LO exactly one year ago on May 1st. All together 52 programmes programmes in both the official Nepalese language Nepali and the local Bhojpuri language (this makes altoghter 104 biweekly programmes).

On labour day Radio Lumbini attended some of the rallies and interactions of the local trade unions and asked the particiting labourers what they think, and the answer was clear: One trade One union is largely supported by the labourers.

In a subsequent live studio programme the radiostation confronted the leaders of the three trade unions and towards the end of the discussion they admitted that corporation is needed.

Especially on the issue of organizing the so-called informal sector, construction workers and other casual labourers as these are at present largely unorganized and who suffer from various problems like insecure payment, no work place security or other labour rights.

Involing the listenersThe above approach of taking the voice of ordinary people to the leaders and other big people and air this on radio is a method that Radio Lumbini highly cherishes and which is used in many of the stations socially oriented radio programmes, as the people of the station believes that making the voice of the people heard is empowering in its own right and it ensures that the topics that the station takes up are relevant to the target audience.

“It is the first time anybody asked us to raise our voice” is a very common phrase among listeners, according to programme coordinator Rupa Pandey of Radio Lumbini.

Experts are estimating that radio has an enormous potential in reaching the poorest in countries like Nepal where 40% of the population cannot read and write, but producing inclusive programmes for this group has many challenges:“It is difficult for locals to express their problems to us”, says Rupa Pandey “and it is also difficult for them to understand that just because we have listened to them we are not going to solve their problems but only to air them”.

The next step, namely to get people to become members of a trade union and to make these people fight their cases, is even more difficult. “We had a case with a man who lost his hand in a labour accident. We encouraged him to get the union to fight his case, I gave him my own phone number and the phone number of the union but he refused, saying that it would be too costly for him. He did not believe us when we said that this would be free of cost”, Rupa narrates.

Another problem regards language. “The people from the unions often only speak Nepali and many of the poor workers don’t”, Rupa explains. The most vulnerable are the migrant workers “who knows the work but not the language and thus cannot express themselves and their problems to the trade unions”.

Success after all

However, the trade union information programmes have also witnessed successes. “During the production of our programmes we were interacting with a group of female factory workers, who pour wine into bottles. These women have made a list of demands for their employer, including issues like weekly leave, working clothes and pay due to sick leave and annual leave. The agreement has not yet been settled but both sides are positive”.Rupa Pandey thinks that the programmes that the Danish Labour Union collected last year has made a difference but she would like to do even more: “We would like to get the opportunity to hire an expert to advice people and unions on what to do with the labour related issues. So in stead of only airing problems we could also suggest solutions”.