Layoffs return to haunt NHE

ELEVEN former National Housing Enterprises (NHE) workers, who were retrenched in September last year, yesterday returned to the company’s headquarters in Windhoek to put pressure on management to finalise their retrenchment packages.

They remained in the company’s reception area throughout the day. The protesters said their bills were piling up and their families were going hungry.They were among 31 employees who were laid off last year in a streamlining exercise that the NHE management said was aimed at implementing the company’s new vision, corporate strategy and organisational structure.A spokesperson for the demonstrators, Nandes !Gaoseb, said yesterday that they were not consulted about their retrenchment packages and rejected them.This led to a series of meetings between the NHE and the Namibia Financial Institutions Union (Nafinu).The laid-off workers have since raised a number of allegations against the company, which appears to have prolonged the delay in their payouts.Among these are charges that the positions they were told would be made redundant actually still exist and have been filled by other people.They also claim that the company has actually enlarged its staff from 101 to 159 since the layoffs.They also questioned CEO Vincent Hailulu’s ability to lead the NHE through this restructuring period.While the group yesterday protested in the reception area, Nafinu and NHE management continued to discuss the retrenchment issue behind closed doors.NHE Corporate Communications Manager Aune Shipanga expressed hope that a meeting scheduled for this afternoon between the NHE, Nafinu and the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) would finally conclude the matter.”I’m sure an amicable solution will be reached.Then only will there be information worth mentioning,” she said when approached for comment yesterday.The protesters said their bills were piling up and their families were going hungry.They were among 31 employees who were laid off last year in a streamlining exercise that the NHE management said was aimed at implementing the company’s new vision, corporate strategy and organisational structure.A spokesperson for the demonstrators, Nandes !Gaoseb, said yesterday that they were not consulted about their retrenchment packages and rejected them.This led to a series of meetings between the NHE and the Namibia Financial Institutions Union (Nafinu).The laid-off workers have since raised a number of allegations against the company, which appears to have prolonged the delay in their payouts.Among these are charges that the positions they were told would be made redundant actually still exist and have been filled by other people.They also claim that the company has actually enlarged its staff from 101 to 159 since the layoffs.They also questioned CEO Vincent Hailulu’s ability to lead the NHE through this restructuring period.While the group yesterday protested in the reception area, Nafinu and NHE management continued to discuss the retrenchment issue behind closed doors.NHE Corporate Communications Manager Aune Shipanga expressed hope that a meeting scheduled for this afternoon between the NHE, Nafinu and the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) would finally conclude the matter.”I’m sure an amicable solution will be reached.Then only will there be information worth mentioning,” she said when approached for comment yesterday.