Justicia Shipena
Minister of agriculture, fisheries, water and land reform Inge Zaamwani-Kamwi says the fishing quota for the government employment redress programme will only be released once companies submit signed employee contracts.
Zaamwani-Kamwi said the government expects to receive the signed contracts by next week.
Zaamwani-Kamwi said on Wednesday that the government has been engaging both employers and employees in the fishing sector to ensure they understand their roles before new agreements are signed.
Zaamwani-Kamwi said the discussions took place over two days during consultations with companies and workers involved in the programme.
“If we reach an agreement and the employees are ready to sign, we will also be ready to sign the destination agreements. For most of them that we have seen today, we have asked that by next week at least they should give us the signed employee contracts on the basis of which we will sign the destination agreements and then we will release the quota,” she said.
She said the government first met with employers to review lessons from the previous fishing allocation system and to explain how workers would be employed under the new arrangement.
According to her, one issue raised during the discussions involved misunderstandings among some workers about the type of work they would perform.
“One of the critical issues is the misunderstanding that some of the employees feel that they are fishermen and therefore they cannot work in factories,” Zaamwani-Kamwi said.
She said the ministry wanted clarity from companies on where workers would be placed before meeting employees to hear their concerns.
“We talk to them, we find out their concerns and then we bring them together again and ask them to reaffirm what they told us in terms of their concerns and expectations,” she said.
The discussions were held between Zaamwani-Kamwi and the minister responsible for justice and labour relations, Fillemon Wise Immanuel.
The consultations involved companies interested in employing workers whose jobs were recently terminated at Walu Fishing.
This comes as the government plans to reintegrate 222 employees into the fishing industry through agreements with four fishing companies as part of efforts to address employment challenges in the sector.
Under the programme, each participating company will receive an employment redress quota based on the number of workers it employs.
Immanuel warned businesses against unjust terminations and improper labour practices during the consultations. Employers were urged to communicate with workers before terminating contracts.
Employees were also reminded to understand the terms and conditions of their contracts and their obligations to their employers.
The government said the two ministries plan to submit a joint Cabinet submission on the programme, including recommendations to address issues within the employment redress initiative.
The employment redress programme is aimed at protecting jobs and creating employment opportunities in Namibia’s fishing industry.
