Thousands of workers in the fishing industry face a year of uncertainty as more companies are resorting to drastic measures of closure and retrenchment because of financial difficulties.
The latest announcement of a factory closure came from Blue Ocean Products at Walvis Bay the day before Christmas. The company's MD, Simon Cummings, said in a press release that the Labor Commissioner was advised on December 20 that the company was “compelled to terminate its factory processing operations with effect from January 31 due to financial difficultiesâ€. The hake factory employs about 200 workers, of which the majority are women.
Another fishing company at Walvis Bay, Cadilu Fishing, stopped production and recalled all its vessels to port in November. The company's 104 factory workers received their retrenchment packages on December 17, while more than 100 sea-going workers scored a victory in the Labor Court preventing their employer from retrenching them. The case will continue in court on February 22.
The Namibian has learned that several other companies at Walvis Bay are experiencing severe financial problems. Overberg Fishing has apparently been put up for sale as a last resort not to close it down, and Tunacor is on the verge of closure.
Cummings of Blue Ocean said the company has been severely affected by several negative factors, just like the rest of the industry. These factors are the strength of the Namibian dollar against the Euro, high fuel prices, erratic fishing conditions, a reduction in the demand for hake products on European export markets, and a reduction in Euro selling prices, which is the main currency in which products are sold. “In addition, the company has had an insufficient wet-fish quota to enable continuous processing operations throughout the fishing season and would have been without a quota for its fishing vessels and processing operations as from January 2005,†said Cummings.
He blamed the illegal industrial action taken by workers on November 29 as the final factor that forced the closure of the company.
Many of the workers’ worst fears were confirmed when 133 were dismissed after a disciplinary hearing. Workers were locked out and suspended by the company when they did not return to work after teatime early in December. One worker told The Namibian at the time of the lockout that they feared the end result of the disciplinary hearings would be dismissal. “If the company wants to get rid of us, they should rather retrench us,†said Erenfriede Katuuo.
The MD said the Labor Commissioner agreed that the action taken by the company was legal and did not constitute a lockout.
Cleopas Ngwena, Regional Organizer of the Namibian Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau), said that as many as 160 workers were dismissed. He said the union was in the process of appealing the dismissal of workers, and that they first had to go through an internal process of appeal. If necessary, they would go as far as the Labor Court.
Ngwena said the union and company would meet to discuss the retrenchment, which he said the union did not accept while the appeal process was still ongoing. The dismissed workers would not qualify for any retrenchment packages.
Cummings said in the press release that the Labor Inspector concluded that under the circumstances it was reasonable to expect the actions taken by the company management, as it had acted in the interest of its shareholders when it decided to secure the premises, assets and products.
The Blue Ocean factory had only been in operation since April 2001 after it was built at a cost of N$74 million. It aimed to create 530 jobs at full production.