Chinese leave Ramatex in droves

AT least 80 ethnic Chinese working at the Ramatex Textile Factory in Windhoek yesterday severed ties with the Malaysian outfit and plan to leave for home.

Sources say at least 150 more are expected to follow suit in the coming days. Their departure follows a turbulent period early in the New Year, when hundreds of Chinese downed tools to protest their conditions of employment.The factory employs more than 1 000 ethnic Chinese workers.Those who have decided to stay returned to the factory last Monday.They were granted optional unpaid leave for two weeks after complaining that they had not had a rest period over the festive season.Attempts to reach the factory’s administration manager for comment yesterday proved fruitless.The Chinese Embassy in Windhoek, which has been helping its nationals to iron out problems with the factory’s management, confirmed yesterday that some of its nationals were planning to leave.According to Embassy spokesperson Aimin Hu, the problems of most Chinese nationals working at Ramatex had been resolved.Hu told The Namibian that representatives from Chinese labour recruitment companies, which facilitated the employment of the workers at Ramatex, played a major role in convincing the majority of employees to return to work.”Most of the workers felt fairly satisfactory with the answers from the factory and returned to their posts.But some have decided to leave Namibia for China due to health conditions and other reasons,” he said.Last month, the Chinese workers asked for their employment contracts to be reduced from three to two years and demanded clarity on the type of medical expenses the company would shoulder.They also expressed unhappiness about the preparation of food at the hostel canteen.Hu described co-operation between Ramatex and its Chinese employees as having been “successful”.The embassy said the Chinese were skilled and had worked hard to make a positive contribution to Namibia’s economic development.Their departure follows a turbulent period early in the New Year, when hundreds of Chinese downed tools to protest their conditions of employment. The factory employs more than 1 000 ethnic Chinese workers. Those who have decided to stay returned to the factory last Monday. They were granted optional unpaid leave for two weeks after complaining that they had not had a rest period over the festive season. Attempts to reach the factory’s administration manager for comment yesterday proved fruitless. The Chinese Embassy in Windhoek, which has been helping its nationals to iron out problems with the factory’s management, confirmed yesterday that some of its nationals were planning to leave. According to Embassy spokesperson Aimin Hu, the problems of most Chinese nationals working at Ramatex had been resolved. Hu told The Namibian that representatives from Chinese labour recruitment companies, which facilitated the employment of the workers at Ramatex, played a major role in convincing the majority of employees to return to work. “Most of the workers felt fairly satisfactory with the answers from the factory and returned to their posts. But some have decided to leave Namibia for China due to health conditions and other reasons,” he said. Last month, the Chinese workers asked for their employment contracts to be reduced from three to two years and demanded clarity on the type of medical expenses the company would shoulder. They also expressed unhappiness about the preparation of food at the hostel canteen. Hu described co-operation between Ramatex and its Chinese employees as having been “successful”. The embassy said the Chinese were skilled and had worked hard to make a positive contribution to Namibia’s economic development.