Windhoek
About 200 Namib Mills workers took to the streets yesterday to demand the removal of several departmental managers whom they accused of being allegedly racist and arrogant.
Namib Mills is the country’s leading producer of flour, pasta and animal feeds, among other products.
Workers said the managers Elize Dawsons, Morgan Mouton, Trevor van der Rose and Eric Scheepers are racist, arrogant, and disrespectful towards employees.
“We demand the immediate removal of specifically Dawson because of her arrogance and disrespectfulness towards workers and for infringing labour laws,” said Namibia National Labour Organisation (Nanlo) shop steward Christiaan Haingura while handing over the petition.
He said they believed that with the continued presence of the four managers, labour unrest within the company would proliferate and affect production.
Workers further accuse the four managers of dismissing workers on trivial grounds.
“No affirmative action policies are put in practice at this company as all management positions are occupied by whites,” said Haingura.
The unhappy workers further request the company to place a moratorium on all pending disciplinary hearings until the company’s disciplinary code is democratically reviewed in consultation with the workers’ representatives.
Other issues grieving workers are alleged inconsistency in applying disciplinary rules, use of a rigid and outdated discriminatory code, nepotism and exploitation.
Managing Director of Namib Mills, Ian Collard, was not available to receive the petition. However the petition was received by the G4S security company manager Frans Mahangu who promised to deliver it to the relevant authorities.
Collard could also not be reached for comment yesterday as his phone was off.
The workers have given Namib Mills until this Friday to reply to their grievances.