Govt, NUNW meet over Ramatex issue

GOVERNMENT yesterday told trade unions involved in negotiations with Ramatex that they have not been left out of decision-making on the factory.

Unions were not informed of last week’s meetings between Government and the Managing Director of the Malaysian-owned company. On Tuesday, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) wrote to Prime Minister Nahas Angula, accusing Government of having “clandestine” meetings with Ramatex without acknowledging or inviting union input.The union demanded a meeting with the Prime Minister, which was held yesterday.Speaking to The Namibian afterwards, NUNW Vice President Alpheus Muheua said “the air had been cleared”, and that the NUNW was happy with the outcome.”Government has a broader role than the unions, and we were told that they mainly concentrated on growth issues.They didn’t touch on labour.We thought this was the case but it really wasn’t,” Muheua said.Government had set out to assure the umbrella union that its input would, from now on, be part of any further talks between the factory and Government, “although no definite date has been set yet”, Muheua said.Union leaders expressed frustration last week, as word spread of meetings between Government and visiting Ramatex MD Albert Lim without the unions being informed.According to union leaders, Government only called them in when Ramatex nearly left the country earlier this year, which would have resulted in all its workers being thrown out on the street.On Sunday, Prime Minister Nahas Angula told The Namibian that issues raised between his office and Ramatex management were bringing in foreign labour to train local employees, environmental concerns and the upgrading of the factory’s products.These talks were however only preliminary, Angula said.Earlier this year, Ramatex had planned to leave the country and sell its Windhoek factory to Government, but Government instead proposed a turnaround strategy.The company cited low productivity and bad publicity, which it said was costing it millions of dollars.The Namibian Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Nafau) is currently involved in negotiations with the company to try and address the issue of low productivity.Contacted for comment on the issue yesterday, Nafau Secretary General Kiros Sackarias declined to speak to The Namibian.On Tuesday, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) wrote to Prime Minister Nahas Angula, accusing Government of having “clandestine” meetings with Ramatex without acknowledging or inviting union input.The union demanded a meeting with the Prime Minister, which was held yesterday.Speaking to The Namibian afterwards, NUNW Vice President Alpheus Muheua said “the air had been cleared”, and that the NUNW was happy with the outcome.”Government has a broader role than the unions, and we were told that they mainly concentrated on growth issues.They didn’t touch on labour.We thought this was the case but it really wasn’t,” Muheua said.Government had set out to assure the umbrella union that its input would, from now on, be part of any further talks between the factory and Government, “although no definite date has been set yet”, Muheua said.Union leaders expressed frustration last week, as word spread of meetings between Government and visiting Ramatex MD Albert Lim without the unions being informed. According to union leaders, Government only called them in when Ramatex nearly left the country earlier this year, which would have resulted in all its workers being thrown out on the street.On Sunday, Prime Minister Nahas Angula told The Namibian that issues raised between his office and Ramatex management were bringing in foreign labour to train local employees, environmental concerns and the upgrading of the factory’s products.These talks were however only preliminary, Angula said. Earlier this year, Ramatex had planned to leave the country and sell its Windhoek factory to Government, but Government instead proposed a turnaround strategy.The company cited low productivity and bad publicity, which it said was costing it millions of dollars.The Namibian Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Nafau) is currently involved in negotiations with the company to try and address the issue of low productivity.Contacted for comment on the issue yesterday, Nafau Secretary General Kiros Sackarias declined to speak to The Namibian.