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Namibia: National Strike Looms
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New Era (Windhoek)
28 May 2008
Posted to the web 28 May 2008
Desie Heita
Windhoek
The Mineworkers Union of Namibia has sent out a "maximum alert" to all its members countrywide for a national strike in support of the current suspended strike at Skorpion Zinc.
Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) said the national strike would take place "if tomorrow's meeting does not achieve anything," MUN General Secretary, Bro Joseph Hengari, said. The Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, the Labour Commission, MUN and Skorpion Zinc are meeting tomorrow in Windhoek to try and resolve the three-week long impasse.
Frustration levels of MUN have reached boiling point with the union saying it "will not accept Ramatex-like investors in the mining industry".
"MUN is calling upon the peace loving Namibians, sister unions, and sympathisers to give their unwavering support [to the national strike]," said Hengari. Tomorrow's meeting would be the second time that senior officials from the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, the Labour Commission, as well as the regional authority are getting involved in deadlocked negotiations at Skorpion Zinc.
The negotiations initially started as annual negotiations over wages and a salary increment. They, however, stalled on overtime payment, housing allowance, and a host of other backdated issues, which resulted in a two-week strike. MUN suspended the strike last week Tuesday, saying the strike did not put a strain on the mine's production and that the mine is negotiating in bad faith.
The mine responded by locking out the workers who were participating in the strike. The National Executive Committee of MUN met on Saturday and "concluded to put its members countrywide on a maximum alert for the national strike in support of the currently suspended strike at Skorpion Zinc Mine," Hengari said. Hengari also alleges that Skorpion Zinc Mine has suspended and issued disciplinary hearing letters to workers for participating in a legal strike. "MUN regards the [lock-out] move by the company as nothing else than a barbaric act, the continuation of white domination, or supremacy and punitive appliance levelled against the striking employees. This is a clear indication of a daylight victimisation of the strikers by the company," MUN said in a statement yesterday.
MUN is also asking that the Employment Equity Commission investigate Skorpion Zinc for non-compliance with the Affirmative Action Act, and an explanation from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration, for the granting of work permits to non-Namibian employees at Skorpion Zinc. "I do not understand why we should get foremen and supervisors from South Africa if we have qualified people here," said Hengari. There are 1056 employees at Skorpion Zinc, 654 of whom are permanent workers. Of those, 450 are MUN members. The union alleges that white foremen and supervisors are paid marginally higher than the few black supervisors. The union also said Skorpion Zinc has not had its Affirmative Action report approved in the last five years, as there are no understudies.
MUN is also calling for the physical removal of Andrew Mostert, the manager of G4S Security at Rosh Pinah. Mostert is accused of firing rubber bullets into a group of workers who participated in a peaceful demonstration at Rosh Pinah over the weekend.
The demonstration was over the lock-out at Skorpion Zinc.
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"His presence among the people is posing threat and proven dangerous and this might influence the employees to retaliate," (sic) said Hengari.
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