WALVIS BAY – Etale Fishing company at Walvis Bay has thrown a lifeline to about 80 retrenched employees whom it recalled earlier this week to retake up employment with the company. The figure represents at least one third of the company’s permanent employees of 270 who were retrenched in February this year following some financial difficulties at the company. Meanwhile, the retrenched employees are furious over the delay in their pension payouts.
Etale is still catching fish but it has not yet re-opened its processing plant. It is leasing a processing plant from another company and will use the recalled employees to process horse-mackerel. “This basically means that we’ll only rent their processing plant and do not need to worry about operational costs at all,” explained the Human Resource Manager of Etale, Gerry Munyama.
He declined to reveal how much fish the 80 employees would process or mention the identity of the fishing rights and quota holders. The recalled employees are expected to resume work this week.
“We are currently interviewing our former employees under the new criteria and policy of the company,” Munyama said, adding that this would be followed up with a union agreement for the workers.
Commenting on the refurbishment of the company’s factory, Munyama said experts would be called in soon to estimate the cost of the whole process. He said some of Etale’s equipment is more than 50 years old. The company’s assets, in particular the refrigeration and electrical installations, require complete refurbishment. “Our main aim is to gradually but literally build a new Etale in order for the company to regain its position in the fishing industry, among investors and the government itself so that we can secure our own fishing quotas again,” Munyama explained. Etale is currently operating with only five office staff while the company prepares for its permanent comeback in the fishing industry.
The company was unable to generate significant revenue to meet its corresponding expenses, particularly salaries and wages. It was then decided to cease all processing operations with immediate effect and issue a notice of retrenchment to employees, with the aim to re-employ workers required in the new operational frameworks.
Meanwhile, the retrenched employees are up in arms over the delay of their pension payouts which is handled by Metropolitan Namibia. Some of the employees explained they’ve found themselves in very compromising financial situations due to the 6-month delay in their pension payouts.
One of the retrenched employees Alfons Seibeb, a former forklift driver of Etale, told New Era that his electricity and other municipal bills as well as hire-purchase accounts have skyrocketed due to non-payment interest, while furniture shops are threatening to repossess his belongings.
“New dates are set every month by Metropolitan to pay us but we have not received our monies up to now since being promised that it would materialise in March this year. No one is giving us a straight answer. Thus, we also have to make false promises to our creditors who in the end want to repossess our belongings and homes we worked so hard for,” Seibeb explained.
He said workers had been meeting and discussing to protest the slow process of the payouts and even requested assistance from the government should they have not received their pensions by the end of August. “We cannot continue like this. We have families to take care of, bills to pay. Interest is being added and we are now known as bad debtors,” a disappointed Seibeb said.
Munyama confirmed the delay in the pension payouts saying the payout process is entirely between the employees and Metropolitan Namibia, the company that handles the employees’ pension fund. “We only assist and do regular enquiries on behalf of the retrenched employees. It is understandable that former employees would find themselves in a difficult financial position after losing their jobs,” Munyama said.
However, an email that was availed to New Era indicates that Etale’s pension benefits would be paid as a bulk payment and would be authorised on August 31 2013. The email also indicated that the money would only reflect after 48 to 72 working hours after being released into the retrenched workers’ accounts.
“Please note that we have requested tax directives for the benefits above N$50 000.00 for which we are still awaiting directives from the Ministry of Finance [branch at] Walvis Bay. This could cause a delay in the payments to members whose benefits are above the said amount,” said Metropolitan Namibia in the email while apologising for the delay in payouts.
By Eveline de Klerk