With the support of the Mineworkers' Union of Namibia (MUN), the diamond cutting and polishing factory Lev Leviev Diamonds has drafted new contracts for 356 employees who will now be put on permanent employment from September 1.

About 120 employees stopped working for two days at LLD last month because they were dissatisfied with new employment conditions, citing low payment and a lack of provision for leave as the main reasons.

None of the workers at LLD had a permanent employment contract yet, as the two-year period since the establishment of the factory was regarded more as a training period, the Managing Director of LLD, Kombadayedu Kapwanga, said yesterday.

Permanent employment contracts were supposed to be signed at the end of last month, which some of the workers refused.

They raised their protest with the MUN, which then assisted LLD with the drafting of new contracts.

According to MUN Secretary General Joseph Hengari, the first draft of the contracts did not clearly spell out the details of basic salaries, commissions, overtime, leave or sick leave.

"All that is now spelt our clearly and 356 workers have signed already", Hengari told reporters at a joint press conference with LLD at the company premises yesterday.

Kapwanga said all employees were informed on Friday about the new contracts and all were satisfied.

"Another 56 trainees will complete their training soon and they will also sign the new contracts," Kapwanga added.

A further 120 new trainees would also be taken in, he added.

No information about salary scales was given, as this was confidential, both parties said yesterday.

All new permanent employees have applied for MUN membership.

"An official recognition agreement between our labour union and LLD will be signed at a later stage," Hengari said.

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