Meatco fires 21 over strike

MEATCO has dismissed 21 workers for going on an illegal strike in April.

Meatco’s Manager: Corporate Communications, Uschi Ramakhutla, told The Namibian that a disciplinary hearing held on Tuesday last week found 11 employees guilty of participating in the illegal strike and recommended that they be dismissed. “The final warnings they had received before the strike counted as aggravating evidence,” Ramakhutla said.The hearing, chaired by Sisa Namandje, found a further 10 employees guilty of participating in the illegal strike but not guilty of intimidation, which constituted aggravating circumstances.Ramakhutla said the company also dismissed those 10 employees on Wednesday despite a recommendation from Namandje that they be issued final written warnings valid for 12 months and a monthly fine of N$15 for the next 12 months.”Meatco is of the opinion that the aggravating evidence is strong enough and warrants a dismissal,” she said.Three others were found not guilty of participating in the illegal strike and returned to work at the Windhoek plant.They were part of a larger group of 149 employees accused of participating in an illegal strike on April 19 at Meatco’s Windhoek abattoir.Five more employees will appear before the disciplinary hearing tomorrow.That group consists of workers who were not present at any of the previous disciplinary hearings.Ramakhutla said the Windhoek abattoir is back to slaughtering at full capacity and has introduced two Saturday shifts to catch up with the backlog.The 149 employees were accused of embarking on an illegal strike, or having involved themselves in the strike action afterwards.The strike took place a day after two other workers at Meatco’s Windhoek plant had been involved in a physical altercation that prompted the company’s management to suspend one of them pending disciplinary proceedings.By the afternoon of April 18, however, the company’s management was informed that the two workers had resolved their differences and exchanged apologies, and that the company was expected to follow suit and drop the planned disciplinary proceedings against the one worker.The company refused, and on April 19, 119 employees working at the plant’s sheep and cattle slaughter floors went on strike in support of their suspended colleague.This brought slaughtering activities at the plant to an abrupt standstill.Over the first day of the strike and the following day, when no slaughtering took place at the plant, Meatco lost income of just over N$900 000, according to Ramakhutla.The plant has a capacity to slaughter 430 head of cattle and 1 400 sheep a day.She said Meatco employees working in other sections of the plant had been redeployed to the slaughtering floors to fill places left vacant by the suspended employees.”The final warnings they had received before the strike counted as aggravating evidence,” Ramakhutla said.The hearing, chaired by Sisa Namandje, found a further 10 employees guilty of participating in the illegal strike but not guilty of intimidation, which constituted aggravating circumstances.Ramakhutla said the company also dismissed those 10 employees on Wednesday despite a recommendation from Namandje that they be issued final written warnings valid for 12 months and a monthly fine of N$15 for the next 12 months.”Meatco is of the opinion that the aggravating evidence is strong enough and warrants a dismissal,” she said.Three others were found not guilty of participating in the illegal strike and returned to work at the Windhoek plant.They were part of a larger group of 149 employees accused of participating in an illegal strike on April 19 at Meatco’s Windhoek abattoir.Five more employees will appear before the disciplinary hearing tomorrow.That group consists of workers who were not present at any of the previous disciplinary hearings.Ramakhutla said the Windhoek abattoir is back to slaughtering at full capacity and has introduced two Saturday shifts to catch up with the backlog.The 149 employees were accused of embarking on an illegal strike, or having involved themselves in the strike action afterwards.The strike took place a day after two other workers at Meatco’s Windhoek plant had been involved in a physical altercation that prompted the company’s management to suspend one of them pending disciplinary proceedings.By the afternoon of April 18, however, the company’s management was informed that the two workers had resolved their differences and exchanged apologies, and that the company was expected to follow suit and drop the planned disciplinary proceedings against the one worker.The company refused, and on April 19, 119 employees working at the plant’s sheep and cattle slaughter floors went on strike in support of their suspended colleague.This brought slaughtering activities at the plant to an abrupt standstill.Over the first day of the strike and the following day, when no slaughtering took place at the plant, Meatco lost income of just over N$900 000, according to Ramakhutla.The plant has a capacity to slaughter 430 head of cattle and 1 400 sheep a day.She said Meatco employees working in other sections of the plant had been redeployed to the slaughtering floors to fill places left vacant by the suspended employees.