Nearly 300 workers at the Okorusu Fluorspar Mine, some 48km north of Otjiwarongo in Namibia, face uncertainty after management decided to close down the mine for what seems to be an indefinite period.
Mine workers were notified of the closure only three days before they were told to leave the mine.
The mine management told Namibian Sun that the mine would remain shut until the end of September as it is battling to sell its fluorspar on the international market due to the current economic crunch.
Managing Director of the mine, Mark Dawe, said that demand for fluorspar from the mine has fallen from 120 000 tonnes to only 62 000 tonnes. “We can not work with such little production so we have to temporary close the mine because we are not making profit at the moment,” he said.
Lack of communication between the employees, the mine and Mine Workers Union of Namibia (MUN) has caused uncertainty amongst the miners, who are in the dark about their fate at the mine. A miner who spoke to Namibian Sun said that he does not have much detail on what the union and the mine have decided about their future, prompting him to think that the mine is closing down for good.
According to Joseph Hengari, the General Secretary of MUN, the employees were initially expected to take three weeks’ leave but the mine had allegedly extended the period to one month and three weeks over the weekend.
“It is stated here in the agreement that they sent me, so I don’t know were the new agreement came from,” said Hengari. He went on to say that the mine had expected the employees to take the leave from their annual leave of three weeks, which was an unreasonable move from the mine’s side.
In the new agreement reached by the union and the mine, however, the clause was changed from “personal leave” to “company leave” for all employees. But, John Ekundi who represents the workers at Okorusu Fluorspar Mine still maintains that the workers are expected to take three weeks’ paid leave and in addition to that, another 15 days from their annual leave. He said employees who had already taken some of their personal leave days would just have to sacrifice their benefits as the situation came at a bad time. Ekundi also said that the workers have not been informed of the new agreement but they are looking at ways to inform them through the media.
Dawe has given his reassurance that workers will receive their full salaries and will not lose out on any benefits while on leave. He said all workers will return to the mine after the temporary closure and there is no talk of retrenchment, even though they can’t predict the mine’s future as it all depends on when the global financial crisis comes to an end.
Source: Namibian Sun
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