Martin Endja
Namib Mills and the Namibia Revolutionary Transport Union (NARETU) finally agreed to negotiate employee wages following a lengthy meeting between the two parties.
The company faced a gloomy blue Monday after operations were halted when employees downed tools countrywide.
The employees accused Namib Mills of refusing on numerous occasions to entertain their proposal to negotiate for an increase in their salaries.
As a result, Namib Mills operations stood still, with the depots in Walvis Bay, Ondangwa, Windhoek, Otjiwarongo and Otavi being negatively impacted.
Corridor and cross-border truck drivers also refused to drive and parked their trucks while stating that they will only resume operations if their demands are met.
Naretu’s Secretary General, Petersen Kambinda confirmed to the Windhoek Observer that the strike stems from the union exercising the rights of its members given failed attempts to bring Namib Mills to the negotiating table to listen to employee proposals.
Kambinda said that they were left with no choice but to show how serious they are about their demands, and as a result, the parties agreed to accept the proposed offer by the workers while the company is now expected to put an offer on the table.
He could not give details or confirm on the proposed increase percentages since negotiations were only agreed to and the two parties still have to meet to negotiate salary increments.
“The company agreed they will be able to negotiate on the submitted worker’s proposal.
However, since the proposal is not yet negotiated, we are unable to give the details on the percentages the employees are demanding since it is still subject to negotiations.
The company will be able to tell us by next week what they can afford based on their finances, which will then enable us to tell the members that due to this and that, the company decided to negotiate such and such percentage and once we reach an agreement we will share the final details,” explained Kambinda.
The unionist also revealed that all operations have been fully restored and all depots have resumed their operations.
Meanwhile, questions sent to the management team of Namib Mills in an effort for a response, are still pending as the company is yet to pronounce itself on the matter.
