Change, no change or big change? The discontinuous development of trade unions in Nepal
| Pages | 1364-1378 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-02-2018-0041 |
| Date | 07 October 2019 |
| Published date | 07 October 2019 |
| Author | Bojindra Prasad Tulachan |
| Subject Matter | Hr & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Change, no change or big change?
The discontinuous development of
trade unions in Nepal
Bojindra Prasad Tulachan
College of Business Administration,
Ajou University, Suwon, The Republic of Korea
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate the systematic development of trade unions in Nepal.
To that end, it considers historical political paradigm shifts and institutional dynamics from the beginning of
trade unions to today.
Design/methodology/approach –The paper adopts the background of biological growth theories and
tests them with the use of qualitative and quantitative data, official records and historical literature.
Findings –The second juncture of trade unions was vacuum marked by the absence of a legal labor
framework. The first stage of trade unionism was prevented from an official take-off as such in terms of
unionization and union activities. The major reason for this phenomenon was the complete ban on trade
unions placed by the monarchial regime. However, the alliance of trade unions with mother political parties
helped them to bounce back in the early 1990s. Thus, the overall biological growth pattern of trade unions in
Nepal appears as “discontinuous.”
Originality/value –The paper argues that the discontinuous development of trade unions appeared without
undergoing a complete growth course of ferment, take-off and maturity as in the S-curve pattern. Second, the
discontinuity of the trade unions led eventually to its formal existence as an institutionalized IR actor. Third,
the trend of trade unionism since the 1980s and 1990s is one of gradual decline in developed, recently
developed and developing countries, whereas it is on a sharp incline in Nepal.
Keywords Nepal, Alliance, Ban on trade unions, Discontinuous, Labour movement
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
Thereisalargeamountofliteratureontheweakprospectsoftradeunionsintheglobal
context. Having passed their period of growth in mainstream advanced economies, trade
unions are seen as likely to suffer a decline in number (Lee, 2005; Western, 1995), a decline
in membership and a decline in density (Visser, 2006). The same trend can be found in
moderate and emerging economies, such as in Asia (Kuruvilla et al., 2002), and so the
prospect for trade unions in other parts of the world calls for serious attention on the part
of those concerned about the future of industrial relations (Tapia et al., 2015). Along with
the negative environment for unions in western countries, the most recent literature
argues that unions globally are losing ground, going through hard times and facing
difficult choices to ensure their survival. To respond to these conditions, there is an urgent
need for unions to reinvent themselves as more strategic, finding alternative sources of
power (Gumbrell-McCormick and Hyman, 2013). In Nepal, however, the trade union
growth pattern is on a unique trajectory with high membership, high density and a high
level of voice or influence, going against the tide of decline in other parts of the world.
Minimal attention has been paid to the situation of the least developed countries like
Nepal, where the development of trade unions is in the unique position of an extreme rise in
unionization and trade union activities. The trend is an upward spiral, which is the opposite
to the downward spiral occurring in developed (Sen and Lee, 2015), recently developed and
emerging economies (Kuruvilla et al., 2002). It is in this light that this paper considers the
question of what objective interests social groups inherit within the logical ground of
modern industrial society that determine the growth of labor institutions (Zeitlin, 1987).
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 41 No. 6, 2019
pp. 1364-1378
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-02-2018-0041
Received 12 February 2018
Revised 25 September 2018
11 March 2019
Accepted 1 April 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
1364
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