<p><a href="/en/afganistan/kabul" class="glossify-link">KABUL</a> Investment Support Agency (AISA) on Saturday went on strike, saying the process of AISA merger into the Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MoCI) has led to suspension of their salaries</p>
<p>AISA had been independently operating since 1384 <a href="/en/solar-year" class="glossify-link">solar year</a> to facilitate registration, licensing and promotion of all investments in Afghanistan. But President Ashraf Ghani in Asad month of current solar year (1395) issued an order of integrating the agency into MoCI and the integration process is still underway. </p>
<p>The decree allows MoCI in compliance with the integration plan to absorb AISA employees into relevant MoCI sections. Dozens of AISA workers on Saturday gathered and protested in front of AISA office here.</p>
<p>Sohrab Azimi, publishing department official at AISA, said AISA employees should be hired at the ministry under the National Technical Assistance (NTA). He said NTA was a new salary scale process based on which employees were given standard salaries.</p>
<p>He said recently AISA’s license department had been transferred to MoCI where the department workers were told they would work on ordinary government pay scale.</p>
<p>Faridoon Astana, a HR employee at AISA, told Pajhwok Afghan News if AISA employees continued their work without considering the NTA process, there would be a 10 percent deduction in their salaries.</p>
<p>He said everything was being transferred to MoCI but AISA employees’ fate was still unknown. “I discussed the transferring of AISA employees through NTA process with the Deputy Commerce and Industries Minister but he said they don’t have any vacant post in NTA sector.”</p>
<p>He said the ministry officials had told them that they could not hire them under NTA process but under the ministry framework .</p>
<p>He said MoCI had promised a competition among high-ranking officials of AISA through the Capacity Building for Results Program (CBR) to appoint them on high posts. </p>
<p>He said MoCI besides breaching its promises had also cut daily rights --- lunch and transport facility-- of employees and AISA bank account had also been blocked by the Ministry of Finance.</p>
<p>Another problem was that the Mizan month salary of the employees had also not been provided as yet and today they obtained Sunbul month’s salary, he said, adding 338 AISA employees were worried about their fate and MoCI officials weren’t responding to their requests.</p>
<p>The strikers warned of continued work boycott until their issues were addressed. They said if their demands weren’t addressed in a week, they would prefer rallying.</p>
<p>Musafir Qawqandi, MoCI spokesman, said there was nothing to be worried about and AISA employees’ salaries would be given by the end of current solar year.</p>
<p>He said the ministries of commerce and industries and finance were working on a draft which would pave the way for hiring AISA workers through NTA process.</p>
<p>He denied allegation of Faridoon Astana who said he was told by deputy minister that there were no NTA process related posts, and said, “No, I deny that claim as untrue.”</p>
<p>sns/ma</p>
