Cheetah cement has said that its management has notified all employees, the office of the Labour Commissioner and the Union of the difficult decision to reduce the workforce at the Cheetah Cement Factory.
These notifications were given in terms of the prescriptions of Section 34 of the Labour Act 11 of 2007.
“The reason for the reduction in workforce is two-fold. Firstly due to the economic circumstances the Company has faced since the start of operations in 2017 and secondly due to the said economic circumstances the Company has found that restructuring on operational grounds will result in the optimal utilization of the remaining workforce.
“An estimated 115 Employees may be affected by the intended staff reduction. Management has scheduled a meeting on 03 & 04 August with the affected Employees, the Union or their Representatives,” the company said in a statement signed by Kevin Lee the General Manager.
The meeting is intended to negotiate altertenative to retrenchments, criteria for selecting the employees to be retrenched, how to minimise the retrenchments (if possible), conditions on which the retrenchments are to take place; and how to avert the adverse effects of the retrenchments; and the severance package.
In view of the strike that the employees last week, the company said that the management of Whale Rock Cement (Pty) Ltd (trading as Cheetah Cement) has noted with regret the decision by the Workers (under the Mineworkers Union of Namibia) to embark on a strike as from 21 July, 2022.
“WRC Management and the Board have done everything in their power to conclude the protracted wage negotiations with MUN and Workers Representatives at its Otjiwarongo plant, but the Union has been adamant with its unrealistic demands. Management acknowledges the Union’s right and intention to go on strike.
“We, therefore, wish to confirm the following, which was discussed and signed in the Strike Rules between the Employer (WRC) and MUN that should a strike continue the following rules shall apply: The entire duration of the strike shall be unpaid, meaning that any employee that engages in the strike shall not be paid for the entire duration of the said strike. Secondly, no leave days shall be accumulated during the period of the strike, meaning that any employee that proceeds with a strike shall not accumulate any additional leave days during the period of the strike. Thirdly, the employer is not obligated to provide any striking employee with transport during the duration of the strike and not obligated to provide any employee with a meal or payment in substitution of a meal during the entire duration of the strike,” the company said further stating that the Employer issued a notice on 18 July 2022, whereby it offered any employee that did not wish not to proceed with the intended strike to contact management for alternative arrangements prior to the commencement of the strike.