Manwu Defends Its Stance

LET me respond to the letter of September 26, entitled ‘Union without manners’ written by an anonymous writer.

It is hurtful to hear that your client went through so much and let me set the record straight. Manwu’s aims and objectives since its inceptions in 1987 have been always and will be always as follows: * To organise and unite all workers employed in various job categories in the Metal and Allied Industries.To further group them together according to the nature of work they are engaged in and assist them informing worker committees of their own under the auspices of Manwu.* To strive for the betterment of economic and social welfare of all Namibian workers as well as for social and economic justice in general by: – Regulating relations, negotiate and settle disputes between members of Manwu and their employers.- Striving for the improvement of working and living conditions of members of Manwu.- Striving for fair and adequate wages and salaries for members of Manwu.- Promoting education, labour safety, culture, sport and recreation of members of Manwu.Manwu has well trained organisers who are well known by many companies where we have good labour relationship across the country.When organisers are going out of the field to organise and recruit new members first thing before entering the company premises is that permission must be granted through the company manager/owner and such organiser must identify him/herself first.During the week of our campaign more than 116 companies were visited and according to the forms used, nobody in any form showed that there was a bad approach.Most of the employers were positive to receive us on their premises.The writer has failed to give his/her name or any contact details for us to investigate the matter.During that week we also found out that almost 95% of employees have no clue about union issues and they were very grateful for us to be there.Even some of employers were very pleased to see us going around and giving information out.There were those who were not willing to co-operate by saying that they have their labour consultants and fail to understand that employees also have a right to have their labour representatives (trade union).Some even went to the extent of threatening their employees as well as calling them stupid by joining the union.We would like to say thanks to all the employers who co-operated and received us in a polite manner e.g.Windhoek Auto Body Repairs, Nowack Automotive, Positive Solutions, Independent Signs, Smart Stone, PW Pampe, Bearing City, Alu Tech, Fernandos & Sons, Windhoek Bricks Concrete and many more.It’s high time employers understand their employees’ rights and let them choose their representative of their choice.We invite the writer to contact us by either e-mail at manwu@mweb.com.na or 061 – 263100.Manwu official Via e-mail Note: We endeavoured to establish the identity of the writer of this letter via return mail, but no response was forthcoming at the time of going to press – EdManwu’s aims and objectives since its inceptions in 1987 have been always and will be always as follows: * To organise and unite all workers employed in various job categories in the Metal and Allied Industries.To further group them together according to the nature of work they are engaged in and assist them informing worker committees of their own under the auspices of Manwu.* To strive for the betterment of economic and social welfare of all Namibian workers as well as for social and economic justice in general by: – Regulating relations, negotiate and settle disputes between members of Manwu and their employers.- Striving for the improvement of working and living conditions of members of Manwu.- Striving for fair and adequate wages and salaries for members of Manwu.- Promoting education, labour safety, culture, sport and recreation of members of Manwu.Manwu has well trained organisers who are well known by many companies where we have good labour relationship across the country.When organisers are going out of the field to organise and recruit new members first thing before entering the company premises is that permission must be granted through the company manager/owner and such organiser must identify him/herself first.During the week of our campaign more than 116 companies were visited and according to the forms used, nobody in any form showed that there was a bad approach.Most of the employers were positive to receive us on their premises.The writer has failed to give his/her name or any contact details for us to investigate the matter.During that week we also found out that almost 95% of employees have no clue about union issues and they were very grateful for us to be there.Even some of employers were very pleased to see us going around and giving information out.There were those who were not willing to co-operate by saying that they have their labour consultants and fail to understand that employees also have a right to have their labour representatives (trade union).Some even went to the extent of threatening their employees as well as calling them stupid by joining the union.We would like to say thanks to all the employers who co-operated and received us in a polite manner e.g.Windhoek Auto Body Repairs, Nowack Automotive, Positive Solutions, Independent Signs, Smart Stone, PW Pampe, Bearing City, Alu Tech, Fernandos & Sons, Windhoek Bricks Concrete and many more.It’s high time employers understand their employees’ rights and let them choose their representative of their choice.We invite the writer to contact us by either e-mail at manwu@mweb.com.na or 061 – 263100.Manwu official Via e-mail Note: We endeavoured to establish the identity of the writer of this letter via return mail, but no response was forthcoming at the time of going to press – Ed