Right to collective bargaining
In Nepal, health workers at the Manipal Teaching Hospital in Pokhara began forming a union, the UNIPHIN, which formally submitted a demand for recognition with the Labour Office in April 2022. Despite meeting all the legal requirements of the registration process, the hospital refused to recognise the union or to engage in collective bargaining over workers’ demands for better working conditions. Prior to their official recognition, the workers had faced police intervention and management suppression when they had voiced their concerns to management.
Faced with management’s refusal to negotiate, in June 2022, the union organised a strike in which more than 500 hospital workers participated. In the wake of the 28-day strike, union and management found an agreement on several of the workers’ demands.