Ramatex crunch for Filipinos

ABOUT 250 Filipinos who have been working at Ramatex are expected to be repatriated today despite no deal being struck on their severance payouts.

Namibia Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Nafau) General Secretary Kiros Sackarias said yesterday that many of the workers were still weighing their options – whether to give in to the Malaysian company’s insistence that they leave today, or to risk waiting for the union to finalise negotiations on their packages. Meanwhile, a large group of Namibian workers who returned to the company premises in Windhoek yesterday morning in the hope of hearing news on the retrenchment negotiations were locked out.The Police reportedly had to be called in to calm tempers.The Filipino workers approached Nafau last week over helping hammer out a deal on their behalf.Unionists claim that the Filipinos were appalled by the way the company had treated them and the approximately 3 000 Namibians employed at the recently closed textile factory.The company issued its Asian workers with letters immediately after announcing its decision to close just over a week ago.It informed them that their contracts had expired and that they were to return to their country of origin on March 18.Sackarias said many of these workers had accumulated up to 68 leave days since the start of their contracts, something which needed to be taken into consideration when working out their packages.”But now, under these circumstances, nobody knows,” he said.He said among the workers forced to leave are the group who late last year took the company to the Labour Court because it had threatened to send them back to the Philippines for daring to raise questions over their working conditions and the number of annual leave days they were granted.A source at the factory yesterday said that some of the Filipino workers had indicated that they would give in to the company’s demands that they leave, as there was no assurance of any other way back home.Others have placed their hopes in the hands of the union and Government, hoping that something can be done to soften Ramatex’s hardline stance.”The problem is that they don’t have their own embassy here.The nearest embassy is in South Africa,” Sackarias said.He said further that the union could confirm slow progress in its negotiations since the weekend.Sackarias said they were able to get the company to agree on paper that it would adhere to Namibian labour laws during this process.”We’ve got them to agree to pay workers their notice pay, their outstanding leave, and for one week per year of service.The bone of contention has always been that we wanted a written guarantee of this,” he said.Sackarias credited this progress to workers staging an overnight sit-in at the premises on Thursday.Workers are alleged to have kept Ramatex General Manager Boon Keong Ong locked out of his home on the premises throughout the night, demanding that he agree to the union’s demands.Negotiations between the union and the company are set to continue today.Ong could not be reached for comment throughout yesterday.Meanwhile, a large group of Namibian workers who returned to the company premises in Windhoek yesterday morning in the hope of hearing news on the retrenchment negotiations were locked out.The Police reportedly had to be called in to calm tempers.The Filipino workers approached Nafau last week over helping hammer out a deal on their behalf.Unionists claim that the Filipinos were appalled by the way the company had treated them and the approximately 3 000 Namibians employed at the recently closed textile factory.The company issued its Asian workers with letters immediately after announcing its decision to close just over a week ago.It informed them that their contracts had expired and that they were to return to their country of origin on March 18. Sackarias said many of these workers had accumulated up to 68 leave days since the start of their contracts, something which needed to be taken into consideration when working out their packages.”But now, under these circumstances, nobody knows,” he said.He said among the workers forced to leave are the group who late last year took the company to the Labour Court because it had threatened to send them back to the Philippines for daring to raise questions over their working conditions and the number of annual leave days they were granted.A source at the factory yesterday said that some of the Filipino workers had indicated that they would give in to the company’s demands that they leave, as there was no assurance of any other way back home.Others have placed their hopes in the hands of the union and Government, hoping that something can be done to soften Ramatex’s hardline stance.”The problem is that they don’t have their own embassy here.The nearest embassy is in South Africa,” Sackarias said.He said further that the union could confirm slow progress in its negotiations since the weekend.Sackarias said they were able to get the company to agree on paper that it would adhere to Namibian labour laws during this process.”We’ve got them to agree to pay workers their notice pay, their outstanding leave, and for one week per year of service.The bone of contention has always been that we wanted a written guarantee of this,” he said.Sackarias credited this progress to workers staging an overnight sit-in at the premises on Thursday.Workers are alleged to have kept Ramatex General Manager Boon Keong Ong locked out of his home on the premises throughout the night, demanding that he agree to the union’s demands.Negotiations between the union and the company are set to continue today.Ong could not be reached for comment throughout yesterday.