Tucna claims unfair treatment

THE arrest of a number of striking factory workers and a union leader at Lüderitz over the weekend yesterday prompted an angry response from the Trade Union Congress of Namibia (Tucna).

A delegation from the union, led by president Paulus Hango, yesterday flew to the southern town in an effort to get their members released from prison, while in Windhoek, a press conference was called by Tucna Secretary General Mahongora Kavihuha to protest the Police’s actions.
Kavihuha claimed that the arrest of union members at the NovaNam fish-processing plant was done with the aim of hurting the country’s independent union movement.
Police arrested Namibia Seamen and Allied Workers Union (Nasawu) branch organiser Petrus Shiyandja on Wednesday night while he was at a car wash.
They charged he had violated a court order which bars picketing strikers from coming within 400 metres of the NovaNam factory.
The factory workers were subsequently rounded up between Thursday and Friday night on the same charges.
Kavihuha claimed that independent unions such as Tucna and its affiliates (of which Nasawu is one) were being singled out as far as actions taken against members are concerned.
‘It should be noted that it is not the first time that Tucna officials suffer such a fate at the hands of the Police. It will be recalled that few years ago, during a peaceful demonstration organised to highlight the plight of shebeen owners, one of our members and a leader, Ben Petrus, was also arrested,’ Kavihuha said.
He cited a series of incidents of industrial action facilitated by the Swapo-affiliated National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) and its affiliates, where court orders were violated but the Police took no action.
These included strikes at TransNamib and the Lev Leviev Diamonds (LLD) diamond-polishing factory.
‘These incidents of victimisation and arrests of Tucna officials bring us to the conclusion that Tucna and its (associates) are the only unions whose members get arrested in this country. This places a big question mark on the partiality and the democratic credentials of this Government and its law enforcement apparatus,’ Kavihuha said.
The Tucna SG further said that the office of the Labour Commissioner has failed to raise its voice in an appropriate way following the arrests.
‘We are utterly disappointed by the general response and failure to comment one way or the other on the arrests and harassment of Petrus Shiyandja. The labour commissioner instead urged the parties to solve their disputes within the shortest possible time.
‘This begs the question as to how the labour commissioner wishes the parties to settle their dispute if one party to the proposed negotiations is harassed and arrested,’ Kavihuha said.
The union demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Shiyandja, for Government to ‘stop intimidating Tucna leaders’ and for the labour commissioner not to ‘pretend as though something serious did not happen’.
The union said it was consulting with its lawyers and would decide afterwards whether or not to take their grievances to court.
Kavihuha also threatened to communicate their frustrations to international union bodies it is affiliated to – something he said would damage the country’s image abroad.
Close to 1 000 NovaNam employees have been on strike since December 8 after wage negotiations reached deadlock.
They are demanding a 7,5 per cent wage increase; the company is offering five per cent.
It is believed that the company is losing about N$900 000 a day as the strike goes into its sixth week.