By Mbatjiua Ngavirue
WINDHOEK
Telecom and the Namibian Public Workers Union (Napwu) yesterday settled the labour dispute that led to a half-day “work stoppage” or “peaceful demonstration” on Friday.
Deputy General Secretary of Napwu, Gabes Andumba, yesterday confirmed the union had successfully concluded negotiations for the reinstatement of I-Way finance department employee, Ms Klein.
“She is back at work in the same position she was, with the same benefits and no suspension recorded against her.”
Senior Manager Communications and Marketing at Telecom, Oiva Angula, also confirmed the parties reached an interim agreement to reinstate Ms Klein in her previous position.
Angula, however, qualified this by saying the company based the reinstatement on certain pre-conditions, including that Ms Klein confine herself to her job description and performs no duties outside it.
Napwu’s Andumba said the crux of the matter was that on Friday Telecom workers had issues they were not happy about.
They decided to stage a peaceful demonstration outside the company’s offices planned for between 8 am and 10 am.
Andumba, however, alleges Telecom’s Managing Director, Frans Ndoroma, initially refused to accept the petition they had drafted, meaning the demonstration dragged on until 12 noon.
The union, however, steadfastly negotiated for Ndoroma to come out and receive their petition.
Once Ndoroma accepted the petition meetings took place during which workers expressed unhappiness with Ms Klein’s suspension on several occasions with no apparent reason.
In negotiations that took up most of yesterday morning, the company agreed to re-instate the suspended employee.
He said he did not want to pre-empt further talks on the Klein issue scheduled for September 12, saying only they would centre on whether the company had the right to transfer her or not.
Telecom’s Angula earlier said the work stoppage resulted from personal support for a female employee at Telecoms I-Way Internet division who proved obstructive at the workstation where the company had posted her.
“It had become unbearable for the company to keep her in that front-office position. We therefore agreed with Napwu to set September 12 as the date for negotiations to resolve the situation.”