TransNamib workers threaten to down tools

FRUSTRATED workers of TransNamib in Windhoek yesterday demonstrated in front of the company’s headquarters to protest what they call delaying tactics by the parastatal in finalising salary negotiations.

John Kwedhi, general secretary of the Namibia Transport and Allied Workers’ Union who handed over the petition to TransNamib’s head of human resources Webster Gonzo, said “these talks have been going on for too long, and we will continue to demonstrate until the negotiations are concluded. We demand an answer before the end of the month, otherwise we will withdraw our labour after exhausting all the necessary avenues as laid down in the Labour Law”.

“Why invite us into their boardrooms and tell us they have no mandate? They are delaying. Enough is enough.”

Without specifying their demands, the union claimed that compared to other state-owned enterprises’ employees, TransNamib workers are paid up to 35% less than the market average.

“It’s not right! We want to keep the country moving, but we’re ashamed to even be seen in these old overalls by other companies’ workers,” one worker shouted.

Another claimed that many skilled and passionate workers have left because they were earning “less than garage men”.

“Now, when we’ve all left, even with their qualifications, can the chairman of the board drive the locomotives that make them (management) rich and keep the economy going”? asked a long-distance driver who declined to provide his name.

Accepting the petition, Gonzo said “TransNamib values its employees and their concerns.”

He relayed to the unappeased crowd that their petition will be circulated amongst management, “studied and addressed in due course”.

Queries to TransNamib went unanswered by the time of going to print.

Workers claimed that a few of them who “could afford to buy homes those years can’t keep up with the payments, and our houses are being repossessed while we wait for one board meeting after another, year on year”.

“Must we now go beg the president for homes, while we are working? I don’t think so. We keep the country moving when they are on holiday, but we can’t afford to feed our families. You’re even too scared to promise your child a gift for Christmas because there just isn’t money,” one said while giving a look which reflects his pain.