Africa-Press – Namibia. The Solidarity Union says it is disappointed with the management of food company Namib Mills, who refused to accept a petition from employees on Wednesday.
This comes after Namib Mills workers and the Solidarity Union held a demonstration about Namib Mills employees’ pension fund and the alleged ill-treatment of workers at the company’s premises in Windhoek.
Nobody from the company was present to receive the workers’ petition. The national coordinator of the Solidarity Union, Costa Liyemo, said Namib Mills was not supposed to refuse to receive the petition.
“We are still going to request for a meeting,” he said. “Receiving a petition does not mean they agree, it’s a great disappointment with us.”
Liyemo said the petition outlined complaints about issues like the movement of employees’ pension fund from one company to another and the unequal treatment of employees in the workplace.
He said employees want one of the company’s managers to be dismissed “for degrading of humanity and unfair labour treatment”, after an incident at Walvis Bay during which a forklift was used to lift a lorry driver above a truck in order to clean its roof, without any protective gear.
Liyemo said this threatened the driver’s health and he was humiliated by the manager, who took a video of the driver on top of the truck. Namib Mills managing director Pieter van Niekerk said the company’s agreement with the Solidarity Union and their internal policies were not followed by the union.
“The way they handled it, it’s not in line with how the process should be done. We are taking this up with the union and the labour commissioner as well and we have to follow the processes,” Van Niekerk said.
He added that there are rules and legislation on how things should be done, and that Namib Mills would not be intimidated by the trade union. One of the employees, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed they are being treated like animals and they have no rights.
“They said they will not give us our bonus, why if it is in our contracts? We worked through Covid-19 and we know for sure that Namib Mills has been making profit unlike some other companies,” the worker said.
The employee also claimed the company is keeping workers’ pension money and when employees retire they are left with nothing. “We want Anti-Corruption Commission and the government to interfere on the pension matter. We are tired,” she said.
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
