Illegal strike disrupts Namibian ports

Union action represents breach of agreement Leonard Neill NAMIBIAN PORTS Authority (Namport) officials have lashed out at the National Union of Namibian Workers for staging an illegal two-day strike last week which disrupted operations in both Walvis Bay and Luderitz harbours. 'They did a good deal of damage to our sound reputation as a highly efficient harbour authority, and the whole affair has backfired on them, both legally and in a new wage agreement we are drawing up," says Namport sales and marketing manager Jerome Mouton. Union officials locked the gates to both harbours last Thursday without warning Namport, as a result of which no work could be carried out until Saturday morning after an agreement between the two parties was reached to reopen salary negotiations. The union called the strike claiming Namport had announced annual salary increases without negotiations with the unions representing workers. "They were wrong," says Mouton. "In fact, their action represented a breach of recognition of agreement, as we had submitted proposals to them but they had failed to respond by deadline time. They had ample time to respond, so the new increases were announced. Now the entire matter has been suspended and we are setting about drawing up an entirely new agreement. "Our legal advisers have been consulted and they will be dealing with the matter in their arena, while the unions will now have to realise that Namport faced a high loss factor because of the two day down time, and the increases we had originally settled upon will now have to be reduced to take into account loss of revenue." The only freight vessel affected was the southbound call of a Maersk Sealand container ship which was sent on to Cape Town, where its 253 containers destined for offloading at Walvis Bay were transhipped to a northbound vessel. According to Namport chief executive Wessie Wessels, the financial loss incurred was in marine services and port and cargo dues. A passenger liner, Saga Rose, waiting outside the harbour from early Thursday morning eventually sailed away at 16:00 that day after the port captain had advised it was unsafe to dock. There was no sign of any form of unruliness inside the harbour or outside the gates in Walvis Bay where union members gathered, while in Luderitz workers went on strike in solidarity with their Walvis colleagues. The strike, the first experienced in the harbours for five years, is estimated to have cost in the region of R1 million.