Lüderitz
!Nami#nus Constituency Councillor Jan Scholtz is concerned about the adverse impact the current strike by seagoing staff is having on the country’s economy.
He said that what makes the strike more worrying is the fact that seagoing personnel only recently came from holiday after the one-month shutdown of fishing factories.
Scholtz felt it would have been advisable for the aggrieved staff to report for duty where they could have submitted their grievances to the Mining, Metal, Maritime and Construction Union (MMMC), which represents the striking workers.
“I cannot come from leave and decide to go on strike, strike from where? Strike from outside, but not from work,” Scholtz emphasised.
More than 350 seagoing personnel at Lüderitz have been on strike since October 29. They are demanding better working conditions at sea.
The strike is led by the MMMC and the affiliate Namibia National Labour Organisation (Namlo).
According to Scholtz, the Lüderitz economy is based on mining and fishing. He says the mining sector, especially at Elizabeth Bay Mine, is also not that healthy, according to information he recently received from Namdeb.
Nafau (Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union) branch organizer at Lüderitz Absalom Willem in a press release on Monday indicated that the union is also greatly concerned about the seagoing employees who are on strike.
Willem said that the union as the exclusive bargaining agency of employees had arranged a meeting with seagoing personnel on October 29, at which they intended to give workers feedback from the meeting held at Walvis Bay from October 20 to 23. The latter meeting was held between employers and the unions recognized by the employers.
The meeting was chaired by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour Bro-Mathew Shinguadja, but workers did attend the meeting, he said.
“We as the representatives agreed with the workers that employers had failed to pay overtime to workers all the years. This was already agreed at the meeting held on October 20. What is pending now is only the implementation of the agreement,” he said.
The basic wage issue will be addressed during negotiations in January next year.
Willem advised the employers and employees to engage in dialogue to find an amicable solution since the strike is also negatively affecting workers who are not on strike.
Meanwhile, Seaflower Whitefish Corporation has forwarded a final reminder letter to
the workers and the union that the workers’ leave ended on October 29.
Seaflower human resources manager Mansoweta Joseph said that they had informed seagoing employees last week via SMS to report to work on October 29 , but workers ignored the SMS. Speaking from Walvis Bay, the MMMC representative Immanuel Petrus said they were still waiting for the Erongo Governor, Cleophas Mutjavikua, to convene a meeting to resolve the matter.
If the planned meeting fails to yield the desired results the aggrieved workers would seek an audience with President Hage Geingob.