1st of May with Radio Lumbini

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. “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.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”.