Fishermen employment contracts renewed
Close to 2 500 fishermen signed renewal contracts
Employers and employees in the fishing sector have been urged to work together to create a conducive working environment.
The fisheries and marine resources ministry in collaboration with the labour, industrial relations and employment creation ministry signed renewal contracts for re-employed fishermen under the Governmental Employment Redress Programme (GERP) on Friday, 5 April.
Fisheries minister Derek Klazen said Cabinet resolved and directed the ministries to secure full-time and permanent employment of specified former Namsov employees and those who lost their jobs within the fishing industry during 2015.
According to Klazen, the Cabinet directives were fully implemented.
"All affected fishermen have been employed mainly in the hake and horse mackerel sub-sectors. A total of 2 483 ex-fishermen have been absorbed through this programme, of which 550 are in the horse mackerel and 1 933 in the hake sub-sector against a cargo of 18 370 MT of hake and 16 500 MT of horse mackerel,” the minister said.
He added” “In this instance, we found companies to be fully compliant with a few exceptions of challenges we picked up along the way, which challenges are receiving our utmost attention."
Challenges
Klazen said among the challenges are limited employment opportunities within the fishing industry.
"There exists a feeling of entitlement by the fishermen and a disrespectful attitude towards employers, resulting in the employees dictating on the type of work they want to do, work stations and continuously threatening employers with mass resignations and mass demonstrations and that the quota belongs to them,” he said.
"The designation agreements do not afford fishermen the right to choose where to be placed, as the agreements only require the placement of fishermen wherever an opportunity for placement arises," Klazen said.
Work together
Deputy labour minister Hafeni Ndemula urged employers and employees to create the necessary conducive environment.
"We are all partners. We are one family. We have to make the best of it. We have created and set ourselves a vision for 2030 to make sure that Namibia becomes a prosperous nation. We can only become prosperous when we're working together," he said.
Ndemula added: "The reason we're here today is to sit around the table as we have today, make the necessary adjustments to what we have, and sign the necessary agreement that we have. We should ratify those agreements to guarantee employment and improved living conditions for our people. That is what we must do right now. And I'm just begging you guys to collaborate with me. Let's make the most of the current circumstances since we are making great progress."
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Fisheries minister Derek Klazen said Cabinet resolved and directed the ministries to secure full-time and permanent employment of specified former Namsov employees and those who lost their jobs within the fishing industry during 2015.
According to Klazen, the Cabinet directives were fully implemented.
"All affected fishermen have been employed mainly in the hake and horse mackerel sub-sectors. A total of 2 483 ex-fishermen have been absorbed through this programme, of which 550 are in the horse mackerel and 1 933 in the hake sub-sector against a cargo of 18 370 MT of hake and 16 500 MT of horse mackerel,” the minister said.
He added” “In this instance, we found companies to be fully compliant with a few exceptions of challenges we picked up along the way, which challenges are receiving our utmost attention."
Challenges
Klazen said among the challenges are limited employment opportunities within the fishing industry.
"There exists a feeling of entitlement by the fishermen and a disrespectful attitude towards employers, resulting in the employees dictating on the type of work they want to do, work stations and continuously threatening employers with mass resignations and mass demonstrations and that the quota belongs to them,” he said.
"The designation agreements do not afford fishermen the right to choose where to be placed, as the agreements only require the placement of fishermen wherever an opportunity for placement arises," Klazen said.
Work together
Deputy labour minister Hafeni Ndemula urged employers and employees to create the necessary conducive environment.
"We are all partners. We are one family. We have to make the best of it. We have created and set ourselves a vision for 2030 to make sure that Namibia becomes a prosperous nation. We can only become prosperous when we're working together," he said.
Ndemula added: "The reason we're here today is to sit around the table as we have today, make the necessary adjustments to what we have, and sign the necessary agreement that we have. We should ratify those agreements to guarantee employment and improved living conditions for our people. That is what we must do right now. And I'm just begging you guys to collaborate with me. Let's make the most of the current circumstances since we are making great progress."
[email protected]
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