More garment employees on street

ALMOST 40 employees of Africa Garment Manufacturers in Windhoek’s Prosperita area have been dismissed for allegedly staging an illegal strike.

Work at the company, which supplies the Police with uniforms, came to a standstill and the only indication of what is happening is a notice on a window advertising 38 positions. According to the notice, dismissed employees are encouraged to apply for the positions.This drastic step was taken by the managing director of the company, Lameck Mwanyangapo, who is permanently employed by the NBC as senior cameraman.Ironically Mwanyangapo is one of the NBC employees demonstrating every day between 13h00 and 14h00 for higher salaries and is also accused by employees of Africa Garment Manufacturers of using NBC cars to transport them and pay visits to the company.The dismissed workers told The Namibian that they were not paid overtime for March despite having to work from Monday to Sunday from early until 21h00. According to them, they took up the issue with Mwanyangapo and with another director of the company, Phineas Shinyala, who is also the deputy director for economic development in the Ministry of Trade and Industry.’Mwanyangapo at one stage shouted at us that we can fight for the money in court. They left us with no other option than to stop working for a few days and this morning [yesterday] we received the letters that we were dismissed,’ one of the dismissed employees said. The board chairman of Africa Garment Manufacturers, Tarah Shaanika, confirmed the dismissals, stating that the issue could have been resolved and should not have gone that far.He said the company is experiencing a cash-flow problem and wanted to pay the workers their overtime at a later stage.’I was informed about the decision by the MD and wanted to address the workers but when I arrived at the company they were all gone. They are also not so innocent, as we have a serious problem with their production. If you have a deadline to deliver the clothes it should be ready but every time I have to renegotiate with the clients to extend the delivery date.’However, he encouraged the dismissed workers to re-apply for jobs and to accept the conditions of work, especially when it comes to production.With regard to an NBC employee serving as MD of the company, Shaanika said it is only expected from him to be at the company after working hours.’I am also not aware of him using the NBC vehicle to transport the employees, but if he does that it is wrong. I make my private vehicle with a driver available to transport the employees,’ Shaanika said.He said a permanent MD would be appointed by June. Mwanyangapo was not available for comment.