March 18: The labor agreement signed with Japan five years ago has become useless due to the government’s failure to implement it.

The Government of Nepal had signed a 'cooperation agreement' with Japan on March 26, 2019 to provide employment to Nepalese workers in Japan through the initiative at the government level. However, Nepali workers have not been able to go to Japan under the agreement. Instead, the government has given manpower companies the right to send workers to Japan.

The two countries had signed the agreement to send Nepali workers to Japan to work in the field of agriculture, nursing, vehicle maintenance, food service industry, construction industry, food and beverage production, housing industry, machinery parts industry, fishing industry, industrial equipment industry, electric, electronics and information technology industry, building and cleaning business, ship and spare parts industry as well as the aviation industry.

Although it was agreed that the Nepali workers selected under the agreement would get the same or higher wages as Japanese citizens, Japan showed reluctance to take workers from Nepal through the government initiative.

After the agreement, the Japanese government initially seemed indifferent towards the need to start the language test and skill test as well as labor selection process. The Government of Nepal also did not take sufficient initiative. As a result, 'Specified Skilled Workers' have not been able to go to Japan.

While inquiring about this issue, a senior official of the Ministry of Labor admitted that it was partly due to the weakness of Nepal, but the main reason was Japan's reluctance to hire the workers.

"The problem is because of the frequent change of government and the ministers not prioritizing the issue," said the official requesting anonymity.

As the agreement could not be implemented, the government recently gave the right to send Nepali workers to Japan to a manpower company.

The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has issued a procedure on sending certain skilled workers to Japan. Along with this, a legal base has been created for manpower companies to send workers to Japan.

The procedure mentions that the manpower company that sends 'Specified Skilled Worker' to Japan should have its own training center according to the prevailing standards for language and skill development. In relation to the teaching of Japanese language in the language training center, the procedure has clarified that there should be at least two language instructors who have an official certificate of Japanese language training.

The Nepali licensed organization should have an agreement with its own contact branch legally registered in Japan or a registered support organization for the purpose of collecting, verifying and facilitating Specified Skilled Workers’ (SSW) demand and providing necessary welfare services and activities for Nepalese workers. There is also a provision in the procedure that the licensed organizations should not charge any fee to the workers.

The procedure also states that the employer will bear the costs of air fare, insurance, health examination, contribution to the welfare fund, contribution to the social security fund and labor permit incurred when sending the employee to Japan for employment. It is said that the service fee collected by the manpower company will be as prescribed by the ministry.

According to Labor Ministry’s Spokesman Rajeev Pokharel, the division that deals with matters related to employment management of the ministry acts as a contact point according to the labor agreement. According to him, the contact point will coordinate with the Japanese side as needed to facilitate the implementation of this procedure.