Africa-Press – Namibia. A TOTAL of 115 employees of the Cheetah Cement plant near Otjiwarongo are facing retrenchment.
Cheetah Cement general manager Kevin Lee confirmed this in a media release.
The media statement said an estimated 115 employees may be affected by the intended staff reduction.
Factory employees went on strike yesterday morning.
Lee said the aim of the retrenchment process is to reduce the factory’s workforce.
“Firstly, it is due to the economic circumstances the company has faced since the start of operations in 2017,” he said.
“Due to economic circumstances, the company has found that restructuring on operational grounds will result in the optimal utilisation of the remaining workforce.”
Lee said the factory’s management scheduled a meeting on 3 and 4 August with the affected employees and the Mine Workers Union of Namibia (MUN) to negotiate alternatives to retrenchments, and define retrenchment criteria.
“We will also discuss how to minimise the retrenchments, the conditions on which the retrenchments are to take place and how to avert the adverse effects of the retrenchments,” he said.
The strike comes after Cheetah Cement and worker representatives were involved in protracted wage negotiations which failed to yield positive results.
Wage negotiations between the company and the MUN started in October 2020, with Cheetah Cement agreeing to give an 80% contribution towards employees’ medical aid fund premiums and pay a minimum monthly housing allowance of N$500 to all employees.
Lee said the management and board have done everything in their power to conclude the protracted wage negotiations with MUN and workers representatives but that the “union has been adamant with its unrealistic demands”.
Lee said the entire duration of the strike would be unpaid.
“Meaning that any employee that engages in the strike will not be paid for the entire duration of the strike. No leave days can be accumulated during the period of the strike,” Lee said.
The company is also not obligated to provide transport and other benefits to striking employees for the duration of the strike, Lee said.
“The employer is not obligated to provide any employee with a meal or payment in substitution of a meal during the entire duration of the strike,” he said.
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