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Namibia: LLD Plays Hardball With MUN, Strikers
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New Era (Windhoek)
3 July 2008
Posted to the web 3 July 2008
John Ekongo
Windhoek
Both the Mine Workers Union of Namibia and LLD Diamonds have been playing what looks like a game of ping-pong amidst the labour unrest at the factory.
The labour unrest has seriously placed the future of more than 100 suspended workers in doubt.
With the two parties nowhere closer to finding a common ground despite three days of closed-session meetings, all that has been achieved appears to be a quandary of uncertainty, which raises more questions than answers.
What appears to be certain, however, is that the strike is illegal, and LLD Diamonds are halfway through instituting disciplinary proceedings against the workers.
A chain of correspondences in the period June 03 and 19, 2008 regarding meetings between LLD and MUN proved ineffective as both parties were unable to agree on matters sometimes as simple as agenda items.
On June 03, MUN crafted a letter calling for an urgent meeting. Points that would be discussed were the issue of appraisal, promotions, tariffs vs basic salary and outstanding overtime.
Two days later, LLD management responded, seeking clarity on points raised by MUN.
On top of that, LLD management also requested that two additional points be put on the agenda, namely, the non-adherence of the workers to procedures and terms as agreed upon in the procedural and recognition agreement, as well as the extensive use of MUN letterheads by the Branch Executive Committee (BEC).
MUN responded on June 10, reiterating their call for an urgent meeting with the same conditions, and LLD simply did the same, responding that they won't be able to meet given their differences of opinions.
"I regret to advise you that since you have chosen not to respond to our request to confirm and provide clarity to the agenda items, it would not be possible for us to meet with you today."
The LLD response further read, "It is our position that if we cannot agree on the agenda items, it would be practically impossible for us to hold a proper meeting in an orderly fashion." It was signed by the Operations Director Clarky McKay.
On June 16, LLD then wrote a letter to Labour Commissioner Bro Matthew Shinguadja soliciting the intervention of the office of the Labour Commissioner to mediate between the two parties with the aim of perhaps averting the ongoing strike.
However, nothing concrete came out of that meeting. Since June 19, the workers have been camping in Windhoek's Northern Industrial Area, a few hundred metres away from the company premises.
The management of LLD Diamond Namibia refused to move from their position of instituting disciplinary action against the 153 striking workers since Thursday, June 19.
Despite a series of meetings and pleas by the Mine Workers Union of Namibia (MUN), the company has made up its mind and is more than set to lay charges against the employees for taking part in what it calls an "illegal industrial strike".
The company suspended the 153 workers, citing "absenteeism without official leave".
LLD placed adverts in the media informing the striking employees to obtain notices to attend disciplinary hearings set for today.
LLD stressed in a release that they would go ahead with disciplinary action against the striking employees.
On their part, MUN SG Bro Joseph Hengari maintained that the workers were suspended and as such could not be regarded as being on an "illegal strike".
"We found no common ground," said Hengari when approached for comment.
Hengari believes that it will be unwise for the company to institute disciplinary hearings against the workers, because of procedural channels that were not followed.
"We did not receive that communication," said Hengari
It appears that differences of opinion occurred on whether the action by the workers is legal or not. LLD management is of the opinion that the actions of the employees are illegal and thus warrant disciplinary action.
LLD Namibia Managing Director Kombadayedu Kapwanga maintains that the strike is illegal and the company will forge ahead with disciplinary action against the workers.
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On the other hand, Hengari queries that workers were suspended an hour after commencement of the strike on Thursday, June 19, which means the strike cannot be viewed as either legal or illegal.
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