Go-it-alone company under fire over no-frills conditions

A SMALL company set up by previously disadvantaged Namibians some seven years ago has been accused of alleged unfair labour practices.

Some employees complained that they don’t receive a pension or a bonus and that they “do not know who the manager is”. However, a representative of Tsumeb Productivity Labour Force (TPLF), which operates more or less on a co-operative basis, has shot down the claims.In an anonymous letter written to the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau), workers of Tsumeb Productivity Labour Force (TPLF) claimed they were not allowed to take annual leave but at the same time allege that they must cough up the leave pay of colleagues who go on holiday.”In our view such a company might be one of those labour-hire companies,” Nafau General Secretary Kiros Sackarias told reporters last Monday.He said Nafau would establish more facts about TPLF.”While we are doing that, we are requesting whoever is the owner or is in charge of the said company, to stop exploiting their employees and put an end to the violation of labour laws with immediate effect,” the Nafau official urged.Meanwhile, Ludwig Hubeb of TPLF has dismissed the claims.”We are a group of 68 workers who call ourselves Tsumeb Productivity Labour Force and we have no manager, but a committee with a chairperson, who operates on a rotational basis,” Hubeb, a committee member-cum-worker told The Namibian from Tsumeb.He said that the 68-strong group decided who got hired and fired.Hubeb said TPLF consisted of former workers of Family Choice, a company owned by Kallie Gruenschloss, who were retrenched around 2000.”We get paid per contract and we distribute the money we earn among our 68 people,” Hubeb said.He said he was aware of the anonymous letter, but denied some of the claims.”We get annual leave, but yes, there is no bonus and no pension, we cannot pay that.”Monthly deductions for social security were being made, however.Asked why they did not register as a company or at least as a close corporation (CC), Hubeb said the current arrangements worked better for them.The manager of Family Choice at Tsumeb, Buks van Staden, confirmed the status of TPLF.”Unfortunately they had to be retrenched some years back, but soon afterwards we could offer them work to pack sugar for us on a contract basis,” Van Staden told The Namibian.”They get paid per tonne of sugar packed.We offered to help TPLF with some administrative work on their behalf, but they let us know that their set-up as a group run by their own committee worked fine for them.”However, a representative of Tsumeb Productivity Labour Force (TPLF), which operates more or less on a co-operative basis, has shot down the claims.In an anonymous letter written to the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau), workers of Tsumeb Productivity Labour Force (TPLF) claimed they were not allowed to take annual leave but at the same time allege that they must cough up the leave pay of colleagues who go on holiday.”In our view such a company might be one of those labour-hire companies,” Nafau General Secretary Kiros Sackarias told reporters last Monday.He said Nafau would establish more facts about TPLF.”While we are doing that, we are requesting whoever is the owner or is in charge of the said company, to stop exploiting their employees and put an end to the violation of labour laws with immediate effect,” the Nafau official urged.Meanwhile, Ludwig Hubeb of TPLF has dismissed the claims.”We are a group of 68 workers who call ourselves Tsumeb Productivity Labour Force and we have no manager, but a committee with a chairperson, who operates on a rotational basis,” Hubeb, a committee member-cum-worker told The Namibian from Tsumeb.He said that the 68-strong group decided who got hired and fired.Hubeb said TPLF consisted of former workers of Family Choice, a company owned by Kallie Gruenschloss, who were retrenched around 2000.”We get paid per contract and we distribute the money we earn among our 68 people,” Hubeb said.He said he was aware of the anonymous letter, but denied some of the claims.”We get annual leave, but yes, there is no bonus and no pension, we cannot pay that.”Monthly deductions for social security were being made, however.Asked why they did not register as a company or at least as a close corporation (CC), Hubeb said the current arrangements worked better for them.The manager of Family Choice at Tsumeb, Buks van Staden, confirmed the status of TPLF.”Unfortunately they had to be retrenched some years back, but soon afterwards we could offer them work to pack sugar for us on a contract basis,” Van Staden told The Namibian.”They get paid per tonne of sugar packed.We offered to help TPLF with some administrative work on their behalf, but they let us know that their set-up as a group run by their own committee worked fine for them.”