Job cuts ‘trimmed’

HANGANA Seafood at Walvis Bay has cut the number of employees to be retrenched from 199 to 30, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) claimed on Friday.

NUNW President Risto Kapenda said negotiations were still going on and that they hoped that the number would be reduced to zero. Addressing the media in Windhoek, Kapenda said the NUNW had felt obliged to intervene in the dispute between Hangana and the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau) after studying the situation around the intended job cuts.The retrenchments were jointly announced by Nafau and the Ohlthaver & List Group at the end of January, but Kapenda charged that the agreement “was misconstrued and unduly blown out of proportion”.He blamed the media for not acquainting themselves with the labour laws and some of the clauses in the agreement before reporting the issue.According to the joint statement, the restructuring process was aimed at ensuring Hangana’s survival and its ability to provide secure employment in the future.It was also intended that the job-reduction process would take place in two phases.The first phase was to allow voluntary retrenchment to be available to all departments and employee categories.Should the first phase not deliver the targeted staff reduction, the company and union would then enter into further consultation to confirm the list of employees to be retrenched.Kapenda said the fishing industry blamed the exchange rate between the Namibian dollar and US Dollar – although some firms only exported to Europe where they used the Euro.”Those with money tend to believe that the nation is ignorant of financial issues,” he claimed.Addressing the media in Windhoek, Kapenda said the NUNW had felt obliged to intervene in the dispute between Hangana and the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau) after studying the situation around the intended job cuts. The retrenchments were jointly announced by Nafau and the Ohlthaver & List Group at the end of January, but Kapenda charged that the agreement “was misconstrued and unduly blown out of proportion”. He blamed the media for not acquainting themselves with the labour laws and some of the clauses in the agreement before reporting the issue. According to the joint statement, the restructuring process was aimed at ensuring Hangana’s survival and its ability to provide secure employment in the future. It was also intended that the job-reduction process would take place in two phases. The first phase was to allow voluntary retrenchment to be available to all departments and employee categories. Should the first phase not deliver the targeted staff reduction, the company and union would then enter into further consultation to confirm the list of employees to be retrenched. Kapenda said the fishing industry blamed the exchange rate between the Namibian dollar and US Dollar – although some firms only exported to Europe where they used the Euro. “Those with money tend to believe that the nation is ignorant of financial issues,” he claimed.