Thursday, April 7, 2016 - 08:00
On the eve of the day that a senior judge in the High Court of Namibia is set to give final judgement if an interdict granted earlier this year should be made permanent or lifted, striking fishermen went into action again.
About 1 500 fishermen marched to the offices of the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation and that of the Confederation of Fishing Associations (CFA) in Walvis Bay to hand over two petitions to air their grievances regarding a unilateral application for exemption and variation by the CFA.
In their petition the fishermen accuse the CFA of trying to exclude them in the decision making process. They claim they have not been consulted and that they have not given the CFA to act on their behalf. In the petition they request the labour ministry to reject the application brought by the CFA to act on their behalf.
In the second petition the fishermen claim that falsified familiarisation and basic safety certificates were sold to people who took up employment at fishing companies after the strike started almost six months ago. In their petition the fishermen request the police and the Department of Maritime Affairs to inform them on the progress of the investigation.
During December last year, twelve fishing companies from Walvis Bay and Luderitz obtained an interdict from the high court in which the striking employees of the 12 companies, the Mining, Metal, Maritime and Construction Union, its president, Evilastus Kaaronda, the Namibia National Labour Organisation (Nanlo), and Nanlo’s regional coordinator based at Swakopmund, Immanuel Petrus, may not incite or encourage any of the companies’ employees to take part in an unlawful strike.
The interdict further prohibited the striking fishermen from intimidating, assaulting, harassing or interfering with any of the fishing companies’ employees or with the companies’ business operations.
The judge also ordered that fishermen may not strike, picket or undertake any other industrial action within 100ms from the companies’ premises until they have complied with the Labour Act’s requirements in respect of the procedures to be followed before a lawful strike may be launched.
The companies which applied for the court order are Hangana Seafood, Novanam, Seaflower Whitefish Corporation, Tunacor Fisheries, Benguela Sea Products, Overberg Fishing, Corvima Fishing Company, Beluga Fishing, Rainbow Trawling, Ekikimbo Trawling, Embwiinda Fishing, and Seacope Freezer Fishing.