‘Ban labour hire’: Unions

WITH the number of local companies announcing retrenchments seemingly increasing by the day, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) yesterday condemned this trend in the private sector.

Restructuring and retrenchments are becoming mere disguises these companies use to dismiss workers unfairly, NUNW Secretary General Evilastus Kaaronda said. The umbrella union also called on Government to ban labour-hire companies, which it said were a new form of economic exploitation.A case in point, Kaaronda said, was the recent decision by Commercial Investment Corporation (CIC) to cut 91 jobs and have these workers taken up by labour-hire company Labour Supply Chain (LSC).These workers, he said, will effectively have their salaries reduced by 34 per cent, with absolutely no benefits.”This is blatant robbery, but it’s legal,” he said.He said Government needed to remove the clause in the Labour Act which allows labour-hire companies to exist.”Is it fair for a company like APS (African Personnel Services – another labour-hire company) to make money from the sweat of their workers while they do nothing? You produce and someone steps in between to take your money and only gives you a piece,” he said.Kaaronda said retrenchments negatively affect the unions’ bargaining power, while they weakened the structures of organised labour.”The process further increases poverty, as it more often than not results in unemployment and in a few instances it significantly cuts the workers’ buying power by heavily reducing the wages and benefits of the workers as they enter new employment contracts under the most extreme, exploitative conditions of labour-hire companies,” he said.Some of the companies mentioned by the union as bad examples included the Ohlthaver & List Group of companies, and the National Housing Enterprise (NHE).”You have people who worked [at NHE] for over 20 years when they were retrenched [in November last year].Some of them are close to retirement and have only four years left on their house payments.The company just feels that it’s not their problem,” he said.Kaaronda further took issue with Trade Minister Immanuel Ngatjizeko, who recently called on workers to take into account investor confidence before resorting to labour disputes.”For Government to sit idle and in silence while employees cement, protect and expand their property and capital interests while condemning workers to a life of poverty and unemployment is most absurd.It is even more absurd when people like the Minister of Trade and Industry pretend to comprehend what is actually happening and blame the workers for economic sabotage as they allegedly chase away investors,” Kaaronda said.”Maybe the Minister wants to explain his insensitive, parochial assessment of the labour situation in the country, especially now that workers are left unemployed and others in more precarious forms of employment,” he said.According to the union leader, the NUNW often comes under fire for its affiliation to the Swapo Government, “but now we look to Government to empower us (in dealing with labour-hire companies).””We have discussed this with the Swapo Party, and the party’s position is clear that they don’t condone these ventures.So why is Government condoning this?” he said.”A lion is a lion, even in a sheep’s skin.So on this one Government must choose.They are either with the workers or with the employers; they cannot be in between.”The umbrella union also called on Government to ban labour-hire companies, which it said were a new form of economic exploitation.A case in point, Kaaronda said, was the recent decision by Commercial Investment Corporation (CIC) to cut 91 jobs and have these workers taken up by labour-hire company Labour Supply Chain (LSC).These workers, he said, will effectively have their salaries reduced by 34 per cent, with absolutely no benefits.”This is blatant robbery, but it’s legal,” he said.He said Government needed to remove the clause in the Labour Act which allows labour-hire companies to exist.”Is it fair for a company like APS (African Personnel Services – another labour-hire company) to make money from the sweat of their workers while they do nothing? You produce and someone steps in between to take your money and only gives you a piece,” he said.Kaaronda said retrenchments negatively affect the unions’ bargaining power, while they weakened the structures of organised labour.”The process further increases poverty, as it more often than not results in unemployment and in a few instances it significantly cuts the workers’ buying power by heavily reducing the wages and benefits of the workers as they enter new employment contracts under the most extreme, exploitative conditions of labour-hire companies,” he said. Some of the companies mentioned by the union as bad examples included the Ohlthaver & List Group of companies, and the National Housing Enterprise (NHE).”You have people who worked [at NHE] for over 20 years when they were retrenched [in November last year].Some of them are close to retirement and have only four years left on their house payments.The company just feels that it’s not their problem,” he said.Kaaronda further took issue with Trade Minister Immanuel Ngatjizeko, who recently called on workers to take into account investor confidence before resorting to labour disputes.”For Government to sit idle and in silence while employees cement, protect and expand their property and capital interests while condemning workers to a life of poverty and unemployment is most absurd.It is even more absurd when people like the Minister of Trade and Industry pretend to comprehend what is actually happening and blame the workers for economic sabotage as they allegedly chase away investors,” Kaaronda said.”Maybe the Minister wants to explain his insensitive, parochial assessment of the labour situation in the country, especially now that workers are left unemployed and others in more precarious forms of employment,” he said.According to the union leader, the NUNW often comes under fire for its affiliation to the Swapo Government, “but now we look to Government to empower us (in dealing with labour-hire companies).””We have discussed this with the Swapo Party, and the party’s position is clear that they don’t condone these ventures.So why is Government condoning this?” he said.”A lion is a lion, even in a sheep’s skin.So on this one Government must choose.They are either with the workers or with the employers; they cannot be in between.”