WALVIS BAY – Government Employment Redress Programme (GERP) workers are demanding an audience with the government over the programme’s termination, as the government offers an ex-gratia payment of at least N$96 000 to workers aged 55 and older and those opting to leave the programme.
The affected employees say they have not been consulted about the programme’s termination.
A letter seen by New Era shows that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform notified the hake sector that its participation in GERP would end on 31 October this year.
The offer
The letter, issued in September by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform and the Ministry of Justice and Labour Relations and addressed to several companies, followed a Cabinet decision that the programme was unsustainable.
“Following a comprehensive performance audit of the GERP, it was found that the programme is highly unsustainable and, therefore, a decision was taken to conclude the programme. As a result, your company is also required to formally notify the GERP employees on the conclusion of the programme,” executive director Teofilus Nghitila wrote in the letter to the hake industry. He also instructed the companies to follow the process for terminating employment contracts in accordance with the Labour Act.
Companies that agree to employ GERP workers permanently will not be allowed to lay them off.
“The absorbed permanent employees should not be subjected to any laying off of employees during the first year (12 months) of implementation,” the letter reads.
In return, the companies may receive a hake freezer quota of eight metric tonnes per worker within their existing commercial quota. The quota allocation would be adjusted over time in line with the total allowable catch. The letter further indicated that workers aged 55 and older, as well as those who choose to leave, must be paid an ex-gratia amount of at least N$96 000 before the company is licensed. As part of the winding-down process, workers are demanding written guarantees on severance pay and employment conditions ahead of the programme’s termination on 31 October. They have warned that they will not accept decisions affecting their livelihoods being made without their input.
Workers’ demands
The workers, represented by the Mining, Metal, Maritime and Construction (MMMC) and the Okapare Fishermen Association, aired their frustrations about the proposed payout packages.
According to them, they are being pressured to sign retrenchment contracts, while no clarity is being provided on the programme’s winding-down process.
Speaking at a press conference in Kuisebmond on Saturday, MMMC secretary-general, Josef Garoeb, said workers felt excluded from decisions affecting their future and wanted the government to engage them before implementing the termination process.
“We believe that the voices of the workers directly affected by this transition must be heard, respected and considered before any final decisions are implemented,” Garoeb said. He said workers wanted to know who had participated in the engagement and whose concerns had been considered, as they had not been consulted.
“Our willingness to engage in dialogue must not be mistaken for acceptance of a process that excludes the very employees whose future is at stake,” he said. The workers are also demanding written commitments from fishing companies to comply with employment conditions and clarity on the proposed payout packages, including whether these would be taxed.Garoeb said severance calculations should recognise GERP’s six-year existence, having been introduced in 2020, rather than being based only on the period an employee spent with an individual company. They have proposed six weeks’ severance pay for each year of the programme. The workers also want the government to disclose the commercial value of the eight metric tonnes of hake allocated in connection with GERP and explain how the allocation supports the programme’s employment objectives.
‘We are tired’
Chairperson of the Kapare Fishermen Association, Godfrey Kahunga, said workers were frustrated by decisions being taken without their participation.
“We are tired of these things that you talk about without our presence. We will travel to Windhoek to have our demands heard by the government,” he said. Kahunga also appealed to companies and their human resources departments to stop pressuring workers into signing retrenchment contracts. Fisheries minister Inge Zaamwani earlier in Parliament said she had received requests from stakeholders seeking clarification on the programme.
“I know that I have received requests from several stakeholders to see me. I am yet to see them, but we have formally communicated to them,” Zaamwani said.
She added that several stakeholders had requested further clarification and that she would provide more information after meeting the affected parties.
-edeklerk@nepc.com.na
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