Employees of Seacope Freezer Fishing Company working as fishermen on the MVF Pemba Bay vessel in Walvis Bay have been left stranded, with no answers as to whether they are still employed.
Seacope Freezer Fishing was established in 2004 and is a subsidiary of Seaflower Whitefish Corporation Limited under the National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor).
The employees through their shopsteward, Nelson Ndaameshime at a press conference in Walvis Bay on Monday said since their return from sea on 28 March this year, there was no further communication on their return to work despite numerous efforts to contact the company.
They added that the vessel has since been docked at the Walvis Bay Port.
“The company did not give us any official notification about our employment status from then. We have been trying to get information from the company through our union Namibia Seamen and Allied Workers Union (NASAWU), however there has been no clear response yet,” he noted.
The employees have also alleged that they have not been paid for June and July, while their salaries for April and May were delayed and only paid in on 16 May and 08 June respectively and not on the 25th of each month as per the agreement.
“We are not happy with the treatment we are getting from the company management, therefore we are requesting for an intervention towards this issue with immediate effect. We would like to know whether we are still employed or not,” Ndaameshime added.
Contacted for comment, Fishcor Chief Executive Officer Clive Gawanab said he was aware of the workers’ plight and that a meeting would be held later on Monday to discuss these issues. He said Fischor has been inundated with requests to intervene in the company’s financial matters.
“Seacope is run as a going concern by a Spanish company who are the ones responsible for paying salaries from profits they make from Seacope. Fishcor is just a service provider in terms of providing payroll services for which we get paid on a monthly basis. Paying salaries for these employees is not our responsibility and we do not see that,” Gawanab said.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
