Fishcor left 50 fishermen stranded – union

The 50 fishermen worked on the Pemba Bay hake fishing vessel at Walvis Bay, which is operated by Fishcor's joint venture company Seacope Freezer Fishing.

Seacope Freezer Fishing (Seacope) is a joint venture company between Fishcor's Seaflower Whitefish Corporation (51%) and Spanish fishing company Copemarowns (49%).

Seacope was established in 2004 to manage the hake freezer quota allocated to Fishcor.

The partnership has been in trouble over the years.

The Pemba Bay crew senior shop steward, Nelson Ndameshime, said 50 workers have been left in limbo.

“The human resource manager [Seaflower Whitefish] called me and told me I must inform others that if they want to go somewhere for the week, they can do so for a week because the vessel might stay in the harbour for a week. That was the only information we were given,” he said.

Ndameshime added that Fishcor has been trying to arrange meetings with the board and fisheries minister but little progress has been made.

The fishermen said they have faced delays in their salaries.

For instance, their salary for April was allegedly delayed and was only paid out on 16 May, as opposed to the 25th, while the May salary was also paid on 8 June.

“From there the salary stopped completely.

The two late salaries were paid after pressure from the union and the Office of the Labour Commissioner. We have signed an agreement for the bonuses for 2020 and 2021, which have not been paid yet,” said Ndameshime.

Namibia Seamen and Allied Workers Union (Nasawu) president Paulus Hango, whose union represents the fishermen, reached out to the company and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

Both the ministry and Seaflower did not respond to his requests for a meeting.

“The fishermen seem to have been abandoned by Seacope and Fishcor,” said Hango to Seaflower Whitefish chief executive officer.

On 27 June, Hango requested Seaflower to pay the fishermen's salaries without delay.

When this did not happen, Hango reported Seaflower's CEO Selma Stephanus and Fishcor board chairperson Mihe Gaomab II to the fisheries minister, Derek Klazen.

“I have tried to contact the chairperson of Fishcor, who has been avoiding the meeting with the union for some time. The CEO of Seaflower Whitefish does not care about whatever is happening with the fishermen,” said Hango.

Hango said the salary delays are a result of a dispute that Fishcor and Seaflower Whitefish have with Seacope regarding business control of the joint venture.

The unions have been trying to get an audience with Klazen for some time now without success.

Three weeks ago, the minister was at Walvis Bay where he met with the industry players in the hake industry to discuss their challenges. At that meeting, he promised to return to meet with the workers' unions.

Fishcor CEO Alex Gawanab did not respond to questions sent to him yesterday.

News about the 50 workers comes a month after the company suspended the unemployment grant of more than 500 former employees of its joint venture company Seaflower Pelagic Processing at Walvis Bay.

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