ARANDIS – Employees of Dantago Clothing that manufactures garments for major chain shops are up in arms over unpaid December wages. The workers at the Arandis company allege the company only paid the wages of 249 people of its 436 workforce on December 17, leaving 187 employees unpaid.
The workers also discovered that the company is in arrears with its pension contribution to Orion Namibia Pension Fund, while pension money was deducted from their wages every month.
These and other grievances including unpaid union fees saw employees stage a peaceful demonstration against the company on Friday at Arandis.
Helvi Johannes one of the employees told New Era it was not the first time their wages were not paid. They were however assured it was something of the past.
“We were promised that we will be paid on 17 December. Many of us travelled to our holiday destinations with the idea that we would pay for the bus trip on the road once the money reflected in our accounts. To our dismay we were never paid and some of had our belongings confiscated by the bus drivers,” a furious Johannes explained.
She said workers want the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and Namfisa to investigate the company for deducting pension money while the monies were not paid over to the pension fund.
“Money was deducted but our employers stopped making payments to the pension fund without our knowledge. We learned that the last payment was made in October 2013. Currently we are N$240 000 behind with our pension. We are worried that we might not benefit from our pension fund at the end of the day,” Johannes said.
Workers are demanding that the company pay its entire workforce their December wages as soon as possible and the outstanding pension contribution to the fund by the end of January.
“The company must respect us and treat us with dignity and we know how much profit the company makes. They should also review the performance of management and take appropriate action with immediate effect,” she said.
None of the company’s management was at the demonstration to receive the petition although they were notified about the demonstration. Calls made to the company by New Era were also not answered.
By Eveline de Klerk