Short-lived strike at Windhoek Country Club

CLOSE to 250 employees of the Windhoek Country Club and Resort (WCCR) went on strike yesterday morning, but returned to work in the afternoon after a settlement was reached.

The workers were angry at the company’s refusal to pay them a backdated salary increase, which it had offered them earlier this year. Led by Namibian Food and Allied Workers Union President David Namalenga, the workers stood at the entry gate of the hotel complex, singing revolutionary songs and waving placards.’We want our money backdated please!’, ‘Out Boucher, Out Corruption’ and ‘No money, no work’, read some of the placards.Yesterday afternoon, Nafau’s National Treasurer, Abel Kazondunge, told The Namibian that the strike was called off after the hotel management agreed to pay the workers N$675 each as their backdated pay.Kazondunge said the worker’s original demand that the money be backdated to March would have put this figure at around N$900.He said he did not know if the money would be paid as a lump sum or in monthly instalments.After protracted wage negotiations that started in January, the union and WCCR management agreed on salary increases backdated to March.The company said later it could not afford to give the workers the back-pay.Led by Namibian Food and Allied Workers Union President David Namalenga, the workers stood at the entry gate of the hotel complex, singing revolutionary songs and waving placards.’We want our money backdated please!’, ‘Out Boucher, Out Corruption’ and ‘No money, no work’, read some of the placards.Yesterday afternoon, Nafau’s National Treasurer, Abel Kazondunge, told The Namibian that the strike was called off after the hotel management agreed to pay the workers N$675 each as their backdated pay.Kazondunge said the worker’s original demand that the money be backdated to March would have put this figure at around N$900.He said he did not know if the money would be paid as a lump sum or in monthly instalments.After protracted wage negotiations that started in January, the union and WCCR management agreed on salary increases backdated to March.The company said later it could not afford to give the workers the back-pay.