About 11 workers have been dismissed at Beifang Mining Services after weeks of disagreement over a new shift schedule at Husab Uranium Mine, where Beifang is a contractor.
The workers’ contracts were terminated last Friday for unauthorised absences and disruption of production orders, according to Beifang head of human resources Abraham Christiaan.
“There was an incident on the evening of 19 [February] where employees from Team A – we have four teams – chased nightshift employees off the bus and prevented them from going to work. The entire production from that night shift was lost,” Christiaan said yesterday.
At least 10 other employees had already been suspended on 7 February for disrupting operations by refusing to comply with the new shift schedule.
Christiaan said the dismissed employees have already submitted appeals.
“The company has suffered losses amounting to millions in the past weeks,” he added.
The dimissed workers deny that they prevented other employees from working.
“We were just working our old roster that we have contracts for. Both these two shifts were on the bus ready to go to work, but the company decided to stop us,” one employee tells The Namibian.
The dispute began last month when Beifang changed the shift schedule in line with guidance from the Ministry of Justice and Labour Relations.
The previous shift schedule did not allow for the minimum required rest time between shifts. The company had applied for an exemption from the labour ministry to keep the old roster, which was not granted. In response, the company created a new roster in line with the Labour Act.
However, employees raised concerns that the new shift schedule – which now allows for 48 hours of rest between shifts – reduced the number of days off from five to four.
The Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) earlier this month told The Namibian that it was concerned about the effects that the changed schedule would have on the workers.
“There are some issues we need to iron out. The current shift roster negatively affects personal lives,” MUN general secretary George Ampweya said.
Most workers need time to travel home from the mine every month to spend social time with their families, he said.
Last Friday, MUN representatives began discussions with Beifang on solutions to the current dispute.
The company said it was willing to submit a new application to the labour minister to allow the mine to go back to the old shift system, this time with a letter of support from the union.
The company also indicated its willingness to lift the suspensions of nine of the employees.
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