Kathmandu: KFC restaurants in Nepal, opened here with Indian investment, faces closure after Maoist trade union activists attacked and threatened to kill senior managers, a company official said on Friday.
"Some Maoist trade union activists have beaten up and threatened the management staff of the company and even interfered with their works like hiring and transferring of staff," a senior management of the company told PTI on condition of anonymity.
"The KFC restaurants may be permanently closed down if the situation does not improve," the management staff said.
"We are open for dialogue but the trade union has not yet come up for negotiations," said the senior staff.
The fate of around 200 local employees working at the KFC and Pizza Hut is hanging in the balance after international chain of restaurants shut down indefinitely on Tuesday following a row between the Maoist affiliated trade union and the management.
The KFC outlets were opened in Kathmandu’s Durbarmarg and Thapathali areas in 2009 with Indian investments. The KFC, Pizza Huts in Nepal are run by Devyani International which operates several restaurants in India as well.
In the past too, many Indian investors had to face similar labour unrests in Nepal.
Surya Nepal, joint venture of Indian Tobacco Company, had closed down its garment manufacturing unit situated in southern Nepal last year following continued labour unrest.
Simiarly, type of labour problem was faced by Uniliver, another multinational company having Indian investment. Colgate Palmolive has permanently shut down its operation a couple of years ago.
PTI
First Published: Friday, August 17, 2012, 19:46