Novanam strikers released

FIVE striking Novanam employees and a union leader who had been held by Police at Lüderitz since last week have been released after their case was dismissed on Tuesday.

The Trade Union Congress of Namibia (Tucna) had been struggling since the weekend to free the six after they were rounded up between Wednesday and Friday for allegedly violating a court order which barred them from coming within 400 metres of the NovaNam fish-processing factory during an ongoing strike there.
Tucna president Hango Paulus confirmed to The Namibian yesterday that the union managed to achieve this goal by late Tuesday afternoon.
Hango and a delegation from the umbrella union flew to the coastal town on Monday, after their arrested colleagues failed to get bail over the weekend.
Apparently a senior court clerk who acted as assistant magistrate did not have the power to grant them bail.
In an interview earlier this week, Hango argued that the court order against the picketing strikers was ‘unrealistic and far fetched’. Novanam said in its Labour Court application that the estimated 1 000 striking workers were harassing and threatening non-striking colleagues, and obtained an order barring strikers from picketing within 400 metres of the factory.
‘To us, it’s unacceptable. Some of these workers live within that restriction [restricted area]. Are they telling these people not to go home? Even Tucna’s offices are within that 400-metre area,’ Hango said.
The Police Regional Commander, Deputy Commissioner Josephat Abel, confirmed that the men were released because the case had been withdrawn provisionally.
‘To me, as I understand the letter from the court, the court order [barring the workers from the premises] still stands, and they should not continue to violate it,’ Abel said.
Tucna’s Vice President based at Walvis Bay, Daniel Imbili, and the National Society for Human Rights this week protested the arrests, both arguing that there was no valid reason.
‘It is evident that the applicants to the court interdict did not comply with section 79 of the Labour Act, therefore, the order made by the honourable court is disputed by Tucna and its affiliates in the strongest terms,’ Imbili said.
‘Our comrades are now regarded as criminals and are treated as such while they are behind bars for something they have been fighting for since the beginning of 2008, and that is the wage increase of its members at NovaNam,’ he said.
The strike at the Lüderitz fish factory continues, with Tucna president Hango yesterday claiming it was a ploy by the Spanish-owned company to try and get a reduction of quota-based fishing levies.
‘They want us to believe that they’re losing N$900 000 a day, but they closed the factory in December and workers were supposed to report back for duty on January 5. They wrote us a letter to complain about the losses, and I’m sure they want to send that same information to the ministry to try and blame the union,’ Hango said.
On the union’s request for a 7,5 per cent wage increase, Hango said this amounted to an increase of 64 cents per hour for casual workers, and between 58 and 76 cents for the three categories of permanent workers.
Casual workers at Novanam, he said, earn about N$9,75 an hour, while the highest level permanent factory worker earns N$10,22.
The arrested workers were Fillipus Ndapona (28), Jonas Johannes (38), Petrina Kandowa (40), Hosea Charles Amesho (36) and Sakaria Joseph (40).
Arrested with them on the same charges was Tucna’s branch organiser, Petrus Shiyandja.