Unions, APS square off

AN announcement to labour unions last week that Africa Personnel Services (APS) plans to close shop at the end of February was yesterday met with protest from the Namibian Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Nafau) and its mother body, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW).

Nafau General Secretary Kiros Sackarias said yesterday that the union has launched a dispute of “unfair termination” of employment with the labour commissioner against APS, after, along with its notice of closure, the labour-hire company announced the dismissal of approximately 200 people across the country from jobs at various institutions with which it had contracts.
APS, the biggest labour broker in the country, will, come March 1, no longer be allowed to practice this trade as per a court ruling reached against it late last year, which confirmed the constitutionality of a stipulation in the new Labour Act that bans labour hire.
“In our view, APS does not have employees of their own and they are in most cases suppliers of manpower to other companies. If they want to convince us that they have employees of their own why do they intend to close instead of continuing? … What about companies to which they render services by supplying manpower? Are they also closing?” Sackarias asked.
“Such companies should not be allowed to retrench or close but rather to employ directly such employees on permanent basis. Nafau believes that companies currently making use of APS services have the needs and capacity to employ a great number of people as supplied by labour-hire companies,” Sackarias said.
He said he saw the closure of APS as “revenge” or a “firing back” at the authorities following the court ruling.
NUNW Secretary General Evilastus Kaaronda added that the umbrella union wished to see Government play more of a co-ordinating role in the transitional process between now and March 1.
Current estimates are that there are 10 000 to 16 000 people in Namibia registered with labour-hire companies.
Between 6 000 and 8 000 of them are said to be registered with APS.
“Our concern is that there is clearly no effort on the part of Government to ensure a smooth transitional period. Everything is almost left,” Kaaronda said.
He said with labour brokers involved in various economic sectors, including mining and retail, it was a national responsibility to look after the interests of the workers left behind.
The biggest number of workers losing their jobs because of the closure of APS are from fishing company Etale, which is dismissing 140 APS-contracted workers.
– denver@namibian.com.na