Matheus Hamutenya
KEETMANSHOOP - Brukkaros Meat Processors (BMP) are set to retrench about 180 workers working at their abattoir, situated about 20 km south of Keetmanshoop.
Company Chief Executive Officer, Brian Greeff confirmed the impeding job losses at the company, saying BMP has tried its utmost best to ensure that things could not get to this stage, but the retrenchments are inevitable as the abattoir is struggling.
He explained without getting into more details that the company was not making any profits from the abattoir and therefore it is pointless to keep on paying workers and operating in losses, and thus the shareholders have decided to retrench and look for buyers or a tenant who can rent and run the abattoir successfully.
“I do not have the final list but about 180 workers are to be retrenched, we are still negotiating with the union but the three months’ notice period have already started in July, we simply cannot put money where we are not making any profit,” he said.
He said while the tannery was doing well, the abattoir is struggling to keep afloat.
“We do not get to make money, we basically closed the abattoir, there is nothing going on at the abattoir, we are not slaughtering, and the shareholders do not want to invest in something that is not bringing in any profit.”
He said the abattoir can simply not be run on a loss basis, where it has to pay salaries while there is no profit being made.“You simply cannot put money in something that is not working, the shareholders lost money and they do not want to continue, so we would rather leave it to someone who can run it profitably, and for now the plant is under care and maintenance,” he stated.
The workers are set to be without jobs by the end of September, and Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (NFAWU) branch organiser at Keetmanshoop Rosalia Albert confirmed they are in negotiations with Brukkaros on workers exit packages, but she could not say more on the issue.
BMP is a multispecies slaughtering and meat processing facility situated at Farm Coenbult.