Meatco reinstates 23 workers

TWENTY-THREE of the 149 workers at the Meat Corporation of Namibia’s Windhoek plant who had been suspended following an alleged illegal strike in mid-April returned to work yesterday.

The 23 admitted during a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday last week that they had taken part in an illegal strike at Meatco’s Windhoek plant on April 19, Meatco’s Manager: Corporate Communications, Uschi Ramakhutla, informed The Namibian yesterday. According to Ramakhutla the 23 received final written warnings after they admitted that they had staged an illegal strike.The 23 also agreed “as a matter of principle” to each pay “a minimal amount” of N$15 a month for 12 months to help cover part of the costs that Meatco incurred because of the work stoppage.Most of the 23 workers who returned to work yesterday were stationed at the sheep-slaughtering floor of the Meatco plant before the strike.The disciplinary hearings of the remainder of the group of 149 employees who are accused of having taken part in an illegal strike are scheduled to start today.They are also accused of having engaged in intimidation to persuade fellow workers to join the strike, Ramakhutla added.The strike took place a day after two employees at Meatco’s Windhoek plant had been involved in a physical altercation that prompted the company’s management to suspend one of them pending disciplinary proceedings against him.This step was followed by a work stoppage, apparently in solidarity with the suspended worker.The strike brought slaughtering at the plant to a sudden standstill, and according to Meatco caused earnings losses amounting to over N$900 000 in the first two days of the strike alone.Slaughtering at the plant restarted after three working days of lost production.The plant has still not returned to operating at its full slaughtering capacity.The plant has a capacity to slaughter 430 head of cattle and 1 400 sheep a day, Ramakhutla said last week.Yesterday, 281 head of cattle and 774 sheep were slaughtered at the plant, according to her.It is planned to slaughter a further 250 head of cattle and 750 sheep at the plant today, while the plan is to slaughter 750 sheep and no cattle tomorrow and on Thursday, as the deboning of cattle carcasses must take place on these days, Ramakhutla indicated.Workers deployed at the deboning section of the plant have been redeployed to fill the place of workers on the slaughtering floors who have been suspended.On Friday, the plan is to slaughter another 250 head of cattle and 750 sheep, but the slaughtering figures on the last two days of the week may still increase, depending on the outcome of today’s disciplinary hearings, Ramakhutla indicated.According to Ramakhutla the 23 received final written warnings after they admitted that they had staged an illegal strike.The 23 also agreed “as a matter of principle” to each pay “a minimal amount” of N$15 a month for 12 months to help cover part of the costs that Meatco incurred because of the work stoppage.Most of the 23 workers who returned to work yesterday were stationed at the sheep-slaughtering floor of the Meatco plant before the strike.The disciplinary hearings of the remainder of the group of 149 employees who are accused of having taken part in an illegal strike are scheduled to start today. They are also accused of having engaged in intimidation to persuade fellow workers to join the strike, Ramakhutla added.The strike took place a day after two employees at Meatco’s Windhoek plant had been involved in a physical altercation that prompted the company’s management to suspend one of them pending disciplinary proceedings against him.This step was followed by a work stoppage, apparently in solidarity with the suspended worker.The strike brought slaughtering at the plant to a sudden standstill, and according to Meatco caused earnings losses amounting to over N$900 000 in the first two days of the strike alone.Slaughtering at the plant restarted after three working days of lost production.The plant has still not returned to operating at its full slaughtering capacity.The plant has a capacity to slaughter 430 head of cattle and 1 400 sheep a day, Ramakhutla said last week.Yesterday, 281 head of cattle and 774 sheep were slaughtered at the plant, according to her.It is planned to slaughter a further 250 head of cattle and 750 sheep at the plant today, while the plan is to slaughter 750 sheep and no cattle tomorrow and on Thursday, as the deboning of cattle carcasses must take place on these days, Ramakhutla indicated.Workers deployed at the deboning section of the plant have been redeployed to fill the place of workers on the slaughtering floors who have been suspended.On Friday, the plan is to slaughter another 250 head of cattle and 750 sheep, but the slaughtering figures on the last two days of the week may still increase, depending on the outcome of today’s disciplinary hearings, Ramakhutla indicated.