Brigitte Weidlich
28 May 2008
Windhoek — A NATIONAL strike might loom in the mining sector if the present wage deadlock between labourers and mining giant Anglo American and its Skorpion zinc mine and refinery near Rosh Pinah is not resolved at a meeting planned with Government, labour unions and the company today.
"We have put our members on maximum alert for a national strike," Joseph Hengari, Secretary General of the Mineworkers' Union of Namibia (MUN), threatened at a media conference yesterday.
"Our members will talk [in this way] and they talk loudly."
Hengari accused the management of the Skorpion Zinc mine of being racist, discriminatory and allegedly promoting only white employees from South Africa while qualified Namibians were being ignored.
"A black Namibian foreman or supervisor will receive a lower salary than his white colleague from South Africa," Hengari accused.
"Blacks are subjected to starvation wages."
MUN suspended a two-week strike last week although no agreement could be reached with the mine's management.
Although workers were satisfied with the company's latest offer of a 12 per cent wage increase and a monthly housing allowance of N$1 780, they rejected a condition that they endorse the mine's application for continuous operation status.
On Friday afternoon, Skorpion Zinc locked out the 420 employees who are part of the bargaining unit.
The remaining 268 employees of the total workforce of 688 continued working and the strike did not hamper production.
Hengari specifically targeted Gerald Boting, General Manager of Skorpion, whom he accused of weak management, with no job descriptions and no salary structures in place at the mine.
"Mr Boting and his team did little if nothing to promote sound labour relations and he failed dismally in applying acceptable standards.
The mine is well known for its racial discrimination, unfair labour practices and weak management."
"Therefore Mr Boting should shut up and not get jumpy when things are getting tough for them," Hengari lashed out.
According to him, Skorpion Zinc contravened labour laws and the Affirmative Action Act.
"The company's annual affirmative action reports have been rejected by the Employment Equity Commission every time," he claimed.
Hengari also took exception to the action of the manager of a security company contracted by Skorpion Zinc, who allegedly fired rubber bullets at a group of locked-out workers who held a demonstration in front of the mine's entrance gates on Saturday afternoon.
Andre Mostert, Manager of G4 Security, tried to disperse the protesters and had insults like "F...k off" and "Voertsek" hurled at him by the workers, MUN Secretary General Hengari told reporters yesterday.
Mostert's rubber bullets allegedly bruised some of the picketers.
Mostert was arrested on a charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and was released on bail.
Approached for comment on the MUN complaints, Usi Hoebeb, spokesperson of Skorpion Zinc, declined to comment.
"It would jeopardise the negotiation process set for Wednesday and the discussions going on between the labour union and the company," Hoebeb told The Namibian yesterday.
Asked to comment on the allegations of discrimination, he politely repeated: "No comment."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Namibian. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
