Nico Smit
7 June 2011
Plastic Packaging employees took to the streets in protest yesterday morning following a breakdown in wage negotiations.
Employees based at three companies owned by the Plastic Packaging Group of Companies, namely Plastic Packaging, Polyoak Packaging Namibia and Namibia Polymer Recyclers, downed tools after representatives of the Metal and Allied Namibian Workers’ Union (Manwu) and management failed to reach agreement on wages and housing allowances.
Manwu project coordinator Justina Jonas said the workers had demanded an across-the-board salary hike of N$150 per month, and a housing allowance increase of N$300 per month.
According to Jonas, some workers earn less than N$2 000 per month, with a housing allowance of N$200.
Plastic Packaging and Polyoak Packaging Namibia are located in Windhoek, and Namibia Polymer Recyclers is located in Okahandja.
Jonas said 207 workers took part in the strike at all three plants and would not return to work until the issue had been resolved.
In a statement released by the company’s management, Plastic Packaging regards the union’s demand of an 19,48 per cent wage increase as unsustainable and “not supported by economic realities.”
Bennie Venter, financial director of Plastic Packaging, dismissed Jonas’s claim that workers earn less than N$2 000 per month.
Venter also dismissed claims of intimidation, saying it was in fact one of the Manwu shop stewards who had threatened a worker who had indicated that he would not go on strike. The shop steward will face a disciplinary hearing for this, Venter added.
According to the press statement, Plastic Packaging has offered a combined increase on basic pay and housing allowance of 10,82 per cent, which it regards as “significantly above market increases and materially above inflation.”
This amounts to a housing allowance increase of N$200 per month and a wage increase of N$50 per month.
Harry Erasmus, the company’s managing director, said although production was affected by the strike, the necessary machines were running and the company had enough reserves to ensure that delivery targets were met.
Erasmus and Venter believe that Plastic Packaging remunerates its employees fairly when compared to other manufacturing companies in Namibia.
They receive a 10,68 per cent company contribution towards a pension fund, a 50 per cent medical aid contribution and free transport worth about N$500 a month.
“The increases, salaries and benefits we offer are very reasonable,” Erasmus said, as he expressed hope that the union representatives and the workers would “come to their senses.”
Plastic Packaging management held a meeting with Manwu representatives yesterday afternoon, but the dispute remained unresolved.
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Plastic Packaging Workers On Strike