Namib Mills denies hiring extra workers during strike

Namib Mills has denied recruiting additional workers to replace striking employees.

This comes after the company locked out its workers at depots across the country after they gave notice last week of their intention to strike yesterday.

The Namibian Revolutionary Transport and Manufacturing Union (Naretu), which represents the employees, claims Namib Mills have broken the agreed on strike and lockout rules over the past two days.

The union claims the company has brought in additional contract workers from labour contractors APS and 360 Consult to do the labour of striking workers.

Naretu denied nine 360 Consult workers entry to the company’s premises on Monday.

Workers yesterday morning gathered outside the Namib Mills gate to prevent a truck from leaving.

The driver of the truck is not a previous contractor, and his employment therefore contravened strike rules, Naretu commander-in-chief Petersen Kambinda said yesterday.

Namib Mills has denied any wrongdoing.

“We definitely do not have extra APS workers,” human resources manager Amorey Pote said.

She said the 360 Consult workers were contracted by Feedmaster Namibia, which shares a gate with Namib Mills, but whose workers are not party to the strike.

Namib Mills and its workers remain at an impasse, with some workers camped outside its head office in Windhoek.

The company issued a lockout on Monday after workers gave notice of their intention to start striking yesterday.

A lockout is used by employers to force the resolution of disputes, governed by the same rules as a strike.

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