Meatco to resume slaughtering

SLAUGHTERING activities are set to resume tomorrow at Meatco’s Windhoek plant, which was hit by a sudden workers’ strike at the end of last week.

The 119 workers who refused to perform their work at Meatco’s Windhoek plant on Thursday were ordered off the company’s premises on Friday. They are now set to face disciplinary action from the company, after the strike brought slaughtering at the Windhoek Meatco abattoir to a stop on Thursday and Friday.Meatco’s Manager: Operations, Jimmy Nel, informed the High Court in an affidavit on Friday that the strike had cost Meatco close to N$1 million in lost income on Thursday and Friday alone.Nel gave this information to the court as part of an urgent application that Meatco brought against the 119 striking workers and two trade unions representing the workers, the Namibia Wholesale and Retail Workers Union (NWRWU) and the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau), on Friday afternoon.The urgent application resulted in Judge Elton Hoff granting an order ejecting the strikers from the Meatco plant’s premises.The strikers were also ordered not to intimidate or interfere with any Meatco employee who wished to work or with any person involved with or connected to Meatco’s operations, and not to interfere with or obstruct the normal operation of Meatco’s business.The strike that hit the Meatco plant on Thursday was sparked by an incident that had taken place at the plant early the previous morning, when two of the plant’s employees got involved in an argument that turned into a physical scuffle.The worker who is alleged to have hit a colleague was informed late on Wednesday afternoon that he would be suspended pending disciplinary action.A hardening of attitudes on the side of the workers and the company over the next two days saw the situation descending into a conflict, a stand-off, a strike and then legal action.By early Thursday morning, Nel informed the court in his affidavit, the plant’s manager was called to a meeting of employees working at the plant’s cattle and sheep slaughter floors.At that stage the management had been informed already that the worker who had laid a complaint against the colleague that he had claimed had assaulted him, had withdrawn the complaint and proclaimed that he had forgiven the alleged transgressor.The meeting was however told that the management regarded assault as a serious offence and that they would continue with the suspension and intended disciplinary steps against the accused worker.The strikers refused to work after hearing that, Nel related.During the course of Thursday they also refused to heed two formal notices in which they were informed that they were engaging in an illegal strike and were asked to return to work.In the meantime, 583 head of cattle were supposed to be slaughtered at the plant on Thursday, with another 401 head of cattle to follow on Friday.On Thursday, 1 426 sheep were also supposed to be slaughtered at the plant, while another 1 150 sheep were to be slaughtered on Friday.A further 28 sheep carcasses that were left hanging on a slaughtering line after the work stoppage had to be condemned because they had been left on the line for too long, the court was informed.Animals that had already been delivered to the plant had to be fed at the company’s cost or transported back to their places of origin, also at Meatco’s cost.The strike cost Meatco N$902 560 over the two days alone, the company claimed in documents forming part of the urgent court application.On Friday morning, Nafau General Secretary Kiros Sackarias sent a letter to Meatco in which he tendered the Nafau leadership’s “sincere apology” for what he, too, termed illegal actions that had been taken by the striking workers.He said the union “has tried its best to inform the workers to stop their actions as it was not legal and not in the interest of both the company and its workers”.It is understood that by Friday the strikers had decided to call off their action and return to work.This time they were however met with a hardened stance from the company management, who took the urgent application against the strikers to court.Meatco’s Manager: Corporate Communications, Uschi Ramakhutla, stated in a press release yesterday that the 119 strikers had been suspended and would be called individually to a disciplinary hearing staring on Wednesday.Except for slaughtering, other operations at the plant continued as normal on Thursday and Friday, Ramakhutla stated.She said slaughtering would restart tomorrow.The company further stated: “Meatco has committed itself to carry the additional costs which affected producers will incur to transport cattle back to the slaughterhouse.Meatco has also taken the responsibility of slaughtering all the animals that had to be cancelled in the coming weeks despite the limited availability of slaughtering capacity during the next few months.”The investigation into the alleged assault and subsequent suspension of an employee accused of the alleged assault, which led to the illegal stoppage of work, will continue.”Meatco’s Windhoek plant was also hit hard by a ten-day strike back in September 1997.As a result of that strike, some 50 cattle carcasses started rotting when they remained hanging unattended in the plant for days.The company later sued the NWRWU for N$428 000 for damages that it claimed to have suffered as a result of that strike.They are now set to face disciplinary action from the company, after the strike brought slaughtering at the Windhoek Meatco abattoir to a stop on Thursday and Friday.Meatco’s Manager: Operations, Jimmy Nel, informed the High Court in an affidavit on Friday that the strike had cost Meatco close to N$1 million in lost income on Thursday and Friday alone.Nel gave this information to the court as part of an urgent application that Meatco brought against the 119 striking workers and two trade unions representing the workers, the Namibia Wholesale and Retail Workers Union (NWRWU) and the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau), on Friday afternoon.The urgent application resulted in Judge Elton Hoff granting an order ejecting the strikers from the Meatco plant’s premises.The strikers were also ordered not to intimidate or interfere with any Meatco employee who wished to work or with any person involved with or connected to Meatco’s operations, and not to interfere with or obstruct the normal operation of Meatco’s business. The strike that hit the Meatco plant on Thursday was sparked by an incident that had taken place at the plant early the previous morning, when two of the plant’s employees got involved in an argument that turned into a physical scuffle.The worker who is alleged to have hit a colleague was informed late on Wednesday afternoon that he would be suspended pending disciplinary action.A hardening of attitudes on the side of the workers and the company over the next two days saw the situation descending into a conflict, a stand-off, a strike and then legal action.By early Thursday morning, Nel informed the court in his affidavit, the plant’s manager was called to a meeting of employees working at the plant’s cattle and sheep slaughter floors.At that stage the management had been informed already that the worker who had laid a complaint against the colleague that he had claimed had assaulted him, had withdrawn the complaint and proclaimed that he had forgiven the alleged transgressor.The meeting was however told that the management regarded assault as a serious offence and that they would continue with the suspension and intended disciplinary steps against the accused worker.The strikers refused to work after hearing that, Nel related.During the course of Thursday they also refused to heed two formal notices in which they were informed that they were engaging in an illegal strike and were asked to return to work.In the meantime, 583 head of cattle were supposed to be slaughtered at the plant on Thursday, with another 401 head of cattle to follow on Friday.On Thursday, 1 426 sheep were also supposed to be slaughtered at the plant, while another 1 150 sheep were to be slaughtered on Friday.A further 28 sheep carcasses that were left hanging on a slaughtering line after the work stoppage had to be condemned because they had been left on the line for too long, the court was informed.Animals that had already been delivered to the plant had to be fed at the company’s cost or transported back to their places of origin, also at Meatco’s cost.The strike cost Meatco N$902 560 over the two days alone, the company claimed in documents forming part of the urgent court application.On Friday morning, Nafau General Secretary Kiros Sackarias sent a letter to Meatco in which he tendered the Nafau leadership’s “sincere apology” for what he, too, termed illegal actions that had been taken by the striking workers.He said the union “has tried its best to inform the workers to stop their actions as it was not legal and not in the interest of both the company and its workers”.It is understood that by Friday the strikers had decided to call off their action and return to work.This time they were however met with a hardened stance from the company management, who took the urgent application against the strikers to court.Meatco’s Manager: Corporate Communications, Uschi Ramakhutla, stated in a press release yesterday that the 119 strikers had been suspended and would be called individually to a disciplinary hearing staring on Wednesday.Except for slaughtering, other operations at the plant continued as normal on Thursday and Friday, Ramakhutla stated.She said slaughtering would restart tomorrow.The company further stated: “Meatco has committed itself to carry the additional costs which affected producers will incur to transport cattle back to the slaughterhouse.Meatco has also taken the responsibility of slaughtering all the animals that had to be cancelled in the coming weeks despite the limited availability of slaughtering capacity during the next few months.”The investigation into the alleged assault and subsequent suspension of an employee accused of the alleged assault, which led to the illegal stoppage of work, will continue.”Meatco’s Windhoek plant was also hit hard by a ten-day strike back in September 1997.As a result of that strike, some 50 cattle carcasses started rotting when they remained hanging unattended in the plant for days.The company later sued the NWRWU for N$428 000 for damages that it claimed to have suffered as a result of that strike.