Worker grievances mount

ON the eve of Workers’ Day celebrated on Saturday, hundreds of NedBank and Group 4 Securicor (G4S) employees submitted petitions to their respective managers.

In a petition addressed to G4S managing director Dries Kannemeyer, employees called on the company’s management ‘to refrain from prolonging our suffering but to commit to mutually acceptable solutions’.The employees claim they have no medical aid or pension fund benefits.Other grievances are that vacancies are allegedly not being advertised, workers lack ‘proper contracts’, get ‘no salary increments’ and lack job descriptions.The security guards claim that there are no salary structures, all management positions are occupied by whites and that there is no affirmative action structure.The workers also allege that the armed response unit is understaffed and that no union deductions are made. They gave the company’s management seven days to respond to their grievances.Kannemeyer yesterday refused to comment. ‘I will not speak to you on a Sunday. Don’t you honour a Sunday? I will report you,’ he said before he hung up the phone.In their petition, addressed to NedBank MD Erastus Hoveka on Friday, 236 employees gave management five working days to respond. Failure to do so would indicate union bashing.According to Asnath Zamuee, general secretary of the Namibia Financial Institutions’ Union (Nafinu), the workers of NedBank ‘decided to stand up for their rights and say no to exploitative practices which includes favouritism, nepotism and victimisation’.The employees further call on the company’s management to reinstate the deduction of union membership fees and sign a recognition agreement with the union.Hoveka told The Namibian that he was on holiday until Wednesday and would respond later.

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