Wednesday, September 14, 2016 - 21:15
WITH the ink hardly dry on an agreement between the workers of Elgin Brown & Hamer Namibia (EBH) and the company’s management on reaching an amicable solution to restructuring difficulties, an illegal work stoppage has put everything in disarray.
The illegal mass action follows an email message from the Workers Committee to Hannes Uys, the chief executive officer of EBH Namibia on Thursday, 8 September.
When the employees did not receive an answer in the time frame they requested they went over to mass action on Friday morning.
The workers were subsequently issued with two notices to return to work immediately because their action is being deemed as illegal, and that their action will result in a ‘no work, no pay’ situation. In both notices management requested the Worker’s Committee to engage in the appropriate forum later on Friday and assured them that Uys will attend.
“As workers have unfortunately embarked upon this work stoppage without following the established channels as specified in our recognition agreement with the union, we cannot engage with them under these circumstances,” said Uys.
“However, EBH Namibia’s management are always open to engage with our workers in constructive dialogue, when the correct channels of engagement are adhered to. To this end, we will also be doing a CEO briefing that was arranged prior to the illegal work stoppage,” he said.
Mbiandja Kandjii along with Alfred Bosman of the Workers Committee said they did not agree with a sudden change in company policies following the retrenchment of 134 workers earlier this year.
“We as the workers were told that we are strategic partners in the company and that we along with management will have to work hand in hand to ensure the company’s future. Now they changed the policies without consulting the employees,” he said.
The representatives from the workers’ committee claimed that the company, after retrenching their fellow employees in July this year, is now employing outside contractors at a much higher pay rate. The workers also claimed that the compensation of retrenched workers were calculated on the wrong scale.
They claimed that their mass action did not constitute an illegal work stoppage and said that they just wanted to show their dissatisfaction with what is transpiring within the general management of the company.