Africa-Press – Namibia. TRUCKING company Unitrans Namibia is being sued in the High Court for allegedly unprocedurally firing a former employee who complained about being underpaid.
Immanuel Kamati has been employed by Unitrans Namibia since 2013, and was dismissed in 2018 for allegedly demanding a salary increment. From 2013 to 2015 he was employed as a general goods driver, mainly transporting salt.
From 2015 to 2018 Kamati’s job description changed to dangerous goods driver, mainly transporting oil. He claims the company refused to adjust his wages despite adjusting his duties to a different job grade.
Kamati says he brought this to the attention of the company’s management, and demanded that his contract and wages be adjusted. The company then resolved to dismiss him after he challenged this “irregularity”, he claims.
“I asked the company to change the contract from a general goods driver to a dangerous goods driver, because the work I was doing is only performed by dangerous goods drivers. My wages also needed to be adjusted accordingly,” Kamati says.
He says he took the case which he has sinse lost, to the Office of the Labour Commissioner. He then approached the High Court in 2018 to try and secure an order overturning the labour commissioner’s decision to rule in favour of the company.
Kamati says he is disappointed that the case he filed at the High Court has not been resolved yet. “I took the case to the High Court and it has been there for years. I do not know why there are so many delays,” he says.
Unitrans’ human resources manager, Rosita van Wyk, says Kamati was not dismissed for demanding a wage increment as he claims. She says all the necessary labour procedures were followed and Kamati was relieved of his job.
“We are well aware of what he is doing, but we’re not going to get involved. He must exhaust all avenues he wants to, he must just make sure he does the right thing,” Van Wyk says.
She says Unitrans normally deals with the Namibia National Labour Organisation (Nanlo) regarding workers’ labour-related matters, including annual salary negotiations.
“All employees are backed by Nanlo. At the moment we have a three-year agreement, and there was never a time we did not honour our wage agreement with the union,” Van Wyk says. Kamiati’s legal representative, Hewat Beukes, however, claims Unitrans has mistreated his client.
“This was an unfair dismissal. He submitted a grievance regarding his contract, and while the grievance had not been attended to, the company has made up charges against him and dismissed him,” Beukes says.
He claims Kamati is now being discriminated against, “in a small community like Walvis Bay, because of his dispute with Unitrans”. Beukes says he will keep pursuing the case until it is resolved.
