Namdeb production holiday starts

AMDEB’S three-month production holiday to cut costs in the face of the global recession starts tomorrow.

All Namdeb operations, excluding the Oranjemund hospital, school and Town Management Company will come to a halt, the company has announced.Employees will receive their normal salaries during the period.In terms of an agreement between Namdeb and the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN), employees are contributing a maximum of 16 days of their accumulated leave, while the company is granting the rest of the time as additional paid leave.According to Polivester Hangula, Vice Secretary for Information at MUN’s Oranjemund Branch, five-day workers will contribute 16 days’ leave, six-day workers 13 days, and seven-day workers nine days. Employees required to work during the production holiday will also receive additional leave days.Hangula said workers will report for duty again on July 1. The whole of July will be taken up by reorientation and training, though.’The shutdown period varies from three to four months depending on each operation’s needs,’ said a joint statement by Namdeb and the union.Hangula said the union is satisfied with the final agreement, which was signed on Friday, following earlier disagreement on the number of leave days workers should contribute.The global financial crisis has all but brought the international diamond industry to its knees, with a significant tumble in diamond prices and demand. In addition to the production holiday, Namdeb’s voluntary separation exercise to let go of 600 employees has also been finalised, with about 560 employees taking severance packages, spokesperson Hilifa Mbako confirmed on Sunday. nangula@namibian.com.na