Hearing more chatter of an impending strike..... and this time it will be a legal one!
I am also going on strike... Yes a HOLIDAY strike, no work for 10 days, no washing the car (the snow and rain can do that), no mowing the lawn (leave it to the gemsbok that are still alive), no arguing over the remote control to watch the soccer, I will be there at the game and best of all ITS A LEGAL STRIKE. woo_hoo. Thanks my better half, I am sure the water front shops will keep you entertained whilst I am at the soccer1
Thanks also to the boss for letting me go on strike! soccer3
Mass Meeting 2nite, Ballot to follow!
Various sources claim that the Union leadership may not actually understand what they are getting themselves into......
image21 yesno
You van have em all Mike i'm off to the Cape regards to the union BoomSmilie_anim yesno laughpoint I think you are right they don't know what they are doing, well thats normal oops image201 image04
Well it appears we might be indeed heading for a strike..... Noticed a lot of foreign police in the town suddenly.......
Who is going on strike ? namdeb ? are they crazy, in this economy.
This impending strike has more to do with politics than percentages..... I also cannot fathom how union can have it's member's best intrests at heart, when the company they work for produces a luxury item, has just come out of a major recession, retrenched hundreds of workers and is 500 million in debt, and then want to strike, thus further hurting the company....
They should not be suprised when the mine does collapse and the Russians move in and then complain about how little their new masters pay....
I agree pay what is fair, but use common sense people.....
Just my 2 cents....
Me thinks that the unions are trying to take a leaf out of the unions down south by hoding companies to ransome eg ek is dom and public servants. The only difference is that Namdeb did not give away milions on world cup tickets, they infact have kept the mine going and paying bonuses, so this is a slap in the face for the mine. I am so sorry that due to patterson I am forced to be part of the bargaining unit, but am NOT A UNION MEMBER AND NEVER BE TILL THE DAY I DIE. So the pea brain idiots will only realise at the end of the month with no work no pay had a terrible rolling effect on our fragile and small economy. No pay=no groceries=no petrol=no clothes=no transport and taxi fares=and worse of all how many kids are going to go hungry because no money is going home up north. Bloody idiots
This strike is centered around a certain Remote/ Oranjemund/ Retention allowance that the company decided to pay the non bargaining unit.
Now that the masses have found out about it they want the same.
The company has offered 5% but the union wants the same as is being paid to the non bargaining unit.
Think the company has only themselves to blame for this one.
Most people should also reread the last couple of Company Briefs from the MD and Gareth Penny very carefully.
They trying to tell us in which direction the company will be moving in the next few years.
The world us we know it here will not be the same by 2014 or sooner.
Just my 2 cents...
One can feel the tension rising, people in positions running around attending last minute meetings.....
After 10 years as a District Committee Person with the Canadian Auto Union,negotiated 3 contracts with General Motors, its just like the old song---You got to know when to Hold em and know when to fold them. Economics has a huge part in what you can acomplish. Sometimes you have to give up things ,the end result is to ensure the Company can survive ,thats our bread and butter.Keeping your members employed. Im retired from all that now thank God.
Sources inform me that the Strike shall commence on Monday...
In other developments, I believe that a High Profile Government delegation will be jetting into town 2morrow to try and sort things out...
I also believe that there was drama at the School and Hospital, although I cannot comment further on this........perhaps somebody else heard something!
Still seeing a lot of "new" uniformed people in our town.....
Oh! and there is a new Chinese dude!
Is the Chinese dude also on strike?? ....Well back to matters on hand. I would like to know, how sensitive information like who is getting paid what, get to be common knowledge. Suppose it's the slug-brains that the company employ to deal with our private and confidential details. Why did my pay-slip, for 3 months in a row, open (Glue not activated) and for anybody to read, manage to find it's way to my post box. I think this whole system stinks.
My 2 cents........
For my two cents I don't think it has any thing to do with the retention bonuses and I know that the bargaining unit are the highest paid in NAMIBIA for the skills level, me thinks it has something to do direct wage increases, school fees and just bloody mindness. Also heard via via the grape vine that the union got .....up six love in concilliation meeting so that is why government is flying in. I don't think the mine offered 5% but alot more but thre union want more (don't they always????) However what ever the cause, the offer, the problems, no work = no pay and our economy will suffer net alone the economy up north. Unfortunately suffer little children is just keeps popping up in my mind. Oh well wait and see. image14
Oh so silly .. Oh so stupid ... cant these cretins see that we have all and are just slowly starting to pull out of an economic crash and recession that was started by greed ... and yes if the unions are greedy they can end up hurting the goose that lays the golden egg ,,, the strikes being mooted here in SA have set a precedent with way above the so called inflation demands ... only prob is it will just fuel inflation ... they definitely get the Darwin award for stopping their bloodlline from spreading ...
How quickly people forget...
The Namibian economy is a capitalist one, not socialist or communist. Like the commercial market, the skills market is also driven by supply and demand and for certain positions in this country (engineers, accountants, auditors etc.) the aces are clearly held by the owners of those skills and not by the corporates, for those positions then, corporate will pay a premium. For other positions (both unskilled and skilled) there is a surplus of eligible candidates and for those individuals the aces are clearly held by the corporates, if you don't like the salary then by all means go work somewhere else because there are a 100 other people equally as skilled waiting in the sidelines to take up that job.
Against this backdrop, Namdeb still pays a very competitive salary to the surplus category employees (significantly above the market median in fact) and while even the loyalist of corporate junkies would have to acknowledge that the company hasn't always been the smartest in the manner it both allocates and describes the allowances and perks it gives to employees, those really are irrelevant factors when considering a wage increase. Other than the fact that an annual increase is largely a 'requirement' as a result of historical precedence, is it by no means an obligation that a company absolutely has to legally fulfill. In fact, the only reason a capitalist company would need to allocate an increase is primarily to remain competitive in the market when it comes to retaining skills and secondly (and less visibly) as a social contribution when wishing to be perceived as a company that is fair and just.
In Namdeb's case, I believe this company excels on both fronts The salaries paid to skilled and high demand employees are now competitive and the offer made to those positions that are in abundance in the market exceeds the median market expectation (and the CPI). Everything this company has done in the past few years has been geared toward sustainability in the long term for both the shareholders (who of course want a return on their investments) and the employees that benefit from employment. A company, forced to feed the greed of short term gain over long term prosperity for all is, unfortunately doomed.
During my fathers service, I made a statement about how, for my dad, being a member of the union executive was never about 'wining' or 'beating' the corporate, it was always about being fair and just and ensuring that corporates never exploit the individual ("a people united shall never be defeated" after all) and also ensuring that people received that which was due to them. I think he would be sad today (and indeed during his last years he did express some disappointment) in how the union today, barring some long serving stalwarts is largely about politics and personal ego's and winning at all costs regardless of the long term consequences...
I hope that common sense prevails and soon...
The Strike has been Resolved..... meeting went on from 8 this morning till after 17h00 this afternoon....... Awaiting official details ........
Paul .. well put ,, the relationship between union should be mutualy beneficial , in respect of sustainability without exploitation ... pity is most unions are now politically affiliated ... pity our Govt ... cos their once very cosy bed partners are now squeezing their balls .. in some cases justified vis Govt profligacy ... in other its all power play .. I say they should kick them out of the once convenient marital bed ...