O&L to study claims by former breweries workers

A GROUP of former Ohlthaver & List employees, who have been camping outside Carl List Haus in Windhoek since December, have ended their demonstration.

An agreement reached between the O&L Group and about ten pensioners last week saw the establishment of an independent panel of experts tasked with assessing the merits and validity of the demands made by the former employees. This panel, according to O&L Group Manager for Public Relations Patrick Hashingola, consists of a lawyer, a charted accountant and a labour expert, “all with a minimum of ten years’ experience in their respective fields.”The sit-in started on December 14 last year, after the former employees failed to get the company to meet their demands, which they say they’ve been entitled to since 1989.They argue that they were unfairly dismissed from their positions at the then South West Breweries for participating in political demonstrations.During the protests the Police fired rubber bullets at them, beat them with sjamboks and set dogs on them, they claim.Workers have on various occasions petitioned the breweries’ holding company, but the O&L Group has always dismissed their claims as lacking merit and validity.These demands will now be properly investigated, Hashingola said, and the panel is expected to convene during the course of this week to advise both parties on their recommendations.This panel, according to O&L Group Manager for Public Relations Patrick Hashingola, consists of a lawyer, a charted accountant and a labour expert, “all with a minimum of ten years’ experience in their respective fields.”The sit-in started on December 14 last year, after the former employees failed to get the company to meet their demands, which they say they’ve been entitled to since 1989.They argue that they were unfairly dismissed from their positions at the then South West Breweries for participating in political demonstrations.During the protests the Police fired rubber bullets at them, beat them with sjamboks and set dogs on them, they claim.Workers have on various occasions petitioned the breweries’ holding company, but the O&L Group has always dismissed their claims as lacking merit and validity.These demands will now be properly investigated, Hashingola said, and the panel is expected to convene during the course of this week to advise both parties on their recommendations.