RCC pays idle workers

• FLORIAN DECKERS ABOUT 30% of the Roads Contractor Company workers have been receiving pay while sitting at home for the past 18 months.

The RCC’s acting chief executive officer Tino !Hanabeb said this to The Namibian yesterday following a nationwide demonstration by some workers who complained about late and unpaid salaries.

“They sit at home, and have been paid for a year and six months now. It is likely that the situation won’t be reversed. We need to talk to people in the revelant places. For now, I am not the right person to say how long we will keep this up,” said !Hanabeb.

On the allegations of late salaries, he said the payments were only late for five days in July and November this year. He added that this was due to the competition the parastatal faced from private construction companies.

One of the workers, Heinrich Cokes Hindju, handed their petition to deputy minister of works Sankwasa James Sankwasa, and also formulated an ultimatum for the ministry’s intervention.

“If by the end of November the outstanding accounts are not settled, it will lead to an immediate work stoppage,” Hindju stated.

This strike would last until the workers’ demands are met, he noted.

Sankwasa responded to the allegations and demands of the workers by advising that the employees should have talked to their board of directors first before coming to the ministry.

The deputy minister further said that they would contact the RCC’s board of directors, and try to solve the problem.

More than 60 workers in Windhoek marched to the works ministry’s offices yesterday and handed over a petition with their demands for the punctual payment of salaries, and the payment of pension as well as medical aid funds. Similarly, some workers at Ondangwa also expressed their grievances at a meeting they held last week.

Employees also claim that their employer deducted money for insurance and pension funds without paying the money over to the respective service providers.

Workers at Ondangwa stated that they have doubts about the financial position of the company, fearing that the company is approaching the beginning of its end.

Apart from the late payment of salaries in the last eight months, the employees said the company no longer pays their medical aid contributions, insurance policies, pension and all other contributions which used to be deducted from their payslips.

They added that they are baffled by the money which is deducted from their salaries but does not reach the intended recipients, such as the medical aid fund or insurance companies.

Most of them, who say they are lowly paid, have been placed in debt as a result. “Creditors are deducting from our bank accounts, while the company deducts the money from our payslips.

That is very unfair,” said Hambeleni Lukas, an office administrator.

The employees further took a swipe at company chief executive officer !Hanabeb, whom they accuse of ignoring their plight.

“We bring money in for the company, but the management of the company does not care about us,” said Kaulungamenwa Nghifewa, who has worked for the company for many years.

At the moment, labourers earn a monthly salary of about N$2 400, drivers N$4 400, support staff N$6 000 and artisans N$9 000. Site agents are said to be earning salaries of up to N$30 000, according to company sources.