Strike hits Roessing

WORK has ground to a halt at Roessing Uranium mine’s open pit after dissatisfied equipment operators refused to work.

Approximately 100 open-pit operators showed up at their workplace on Monday, but refused to start working before management agreed to salary hikes. According to Rehabeam Hoveka, Roessing’s General Manager of Corporate Services, workers from the morning, afternoon and night shifts joined in the strike.By yesterday afternoon they had still not resumed work.The operators are employed on a grade 6 Patterson job level, but are demanding that they be promoted to a higher level with higher pay.Hoveka said the job descriptions of the specific group were rewritten recently and a job-evaluation specialist confirmed that their employment level and pay were correct.He declared the strike illegal, as procedures stipulated in the Labour Act were not followed.”The illegal work stoppage is compromising this year’s production target in the open pit,” said Hoveka.The mine, which produces more than seven per cent of the world’s uranium demand, was believed to be on its last legs before a Life of Mine Expansion project was announced late last year.The annual target was then set at producing 4 000 tonnes within the next two years.Current production is estimated at about 3 800 tonnes a year.Alwyn Lubbe, Communications Officer at Roessing, told The Namibian that the financial losses caused by the lack of productivity could not be estimated yet.Roessing managers and officials of the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) have spent the last two days at the negotiation table in a bid to resolve the dispute.Chairman of MUN’s Roessing branch, Erich Beukes, was not available for comment.Hoveka said the company was willing to co-operate with the union and discuss possible solutions, but only after the workers had resumed their duties and operations returned to normal.A similar dispute halted operations in January, when the open pit was temporarily closed for safety reasons because some 450 workers downed tools to protest against salary increases that they believed were insufficient.The dispute was settled, after several days of bargaining.According to Rehabeam Hoveka, Roessing’s General Manager of Corporate Services, workers from the morning, afternoon and night shifts joined in the strike.By yesterday afternoon they had still not resumed work.The operators are employed on a grade 6 Patterson job level, but are demanding that they be promoted to a higher level with higher pay.Hoveka said the job descriptions of the specific group were rewritten recently and a job-evaluation specialist confirmed that their employment level and pay were correct.He declared the strike illegal, as procedures stipulated in the Labour Act were not followed.”The illegal work stoppage is compromising this year’s production target in the open pit,” said Hoveka.The mine, which produces more than seven per cent of the world’s uranium demand, was believed to be on its last legs before a Life of Mine Expansion project was announced late last year.The annual target was then set at producing 4 000 tonnes within the next two years.Current production is estimated at about 3 800 tonnes a year.Alwyn Lubbe, Communications Officer at Roessing, told The Namibian that the financial losses caused by the lack of productivity could not be estimated yet.Roessing managers and officials of the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) have spent the last two days at the negotiation table in a bid to resolve the dispute.Chairman of MUN’s Roessing branch, Erich Beukes, was not available for comment.Hoveka said the company was willing to co-operate with the union and discuss possible solutions, but only after the workers had resumed their duties and operations returned to normal.A similar dispute halted operations in January, when the open pit was temporarily closed for safety reasons because some 450 workers downed tools to protest against salary increases that they believed were insufficient.The dispute was settled, after several days of bargaining.