MUN wants Government to bailout mines

IN an effort to save jobs, the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) plans to ask Government to bail out struggling mines.

This was revealed yesterday at a press conference held by the union’s General Secretary, Bro Joseph Hengari, at which he took stock of the challenges that the union faced last year.
Top among these were the closure of Weatherly Mining and the subsequent loss of 643 jobs.
“MUN will strive to engage Government in looking into the problem. Bailouts are taking place in various countries. France recently bailed out the motor industry, the US and the UK have bailed out companies in the finance industry; Namibia should do the same for the mining industry,” Hengari said.
He added that the MUN regards mining as a national asset which Government should take over and pointed to the Australian and South African examples of bailouts in the mining industry as steps that should be followed by the Namibian Government.
Hengari said that the union began engaging with Government last year. A “fruitful” meeting with the Minister of Mines and Energy had already taken place, and talks would continue this year, he said.
“The outcomes of that meeting were fine, and Government is showing interest, and even proposed looking into how we can begin to empower Namibians to run the mines,” he said, adding that the MUN would try to influence lawmakers to provide the necessary bailouts.
Evilastus Kaaronda, Secretary General of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), told The Namibian that the position of the national union is similar to that of the MUN, adding that it is now a matter of strategy.
“We are contemplating, for example, for Government to grant mining companies some form of guarantee to raise funds in order to finance their operations. If Government agrees, the condition would then be to retain jobs and avoid the retrenchment of workers,” said Kaaronda.
He added that the NUNW wanted a national dialogue with Government and the private sector to determine “what we can do, how it can be done, and what assistance Government can render.”
Kaaronda added that on such a platform, issues such as the nationalisation of some of the assets in the mining industry would need to be discussed.
“We have also been plagued by the issue of people that were employed by African Personnel Services and other such companies before labour hire was banned. There was no transition process and no co-ordination, and this is a topic for which national dialogue is also required for redress.”
He said the NUNW is planning to have a meeting soon with the Prime Minister, the Namibia Chamber for Commerce and Industry, and the Namibia Employers’ Federation “to discuss a comprehensive solution to some of these problems”.
Asked what mines the unions had in mind for a Government bailout, Kaaronda singled out Weatherly Mining Namibia, which has already retrenched 643 workers; Namdeb, which has already asked employees to take voluntary retrenchment packages; and various contracting companies who “have been shown the door” and are also in dire straits and in need of bailouts.
Hengari added that several other mines and contractors had placed employees on extended paid leave, but indicated that if the situation did not improve, this could result in up to 1 000 workers being laid off.
Currently, however, apart from discussions with Weatherly and Namdeb, the MUN is not in talks with any of the other mining companies, and according to Hengari, is “waiting to be notified”.
“We will work relentlessly in order to banish the spectre of unemployment in the mining industry,” he said.