Namibia: Fishcor Temporarily Moves Workers to Tunacor

The National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor) has sold 4 000 metric tonnes of its horse mackerel quota to Tunacor Fisheries in exchange for the temporary employment of 655 former factory workers of Seaflower Pelagic Processing (SPP).

Because Fishcor has only a small staff and has no operational infrastructure, the interim board went into negotiations with several fishing companies to absorb the SPP employees who are facing retrenchment because of little or no quota allocated to their employer.

Last month, 425 of the 655 employees of SPP left the company, a few days before the company was to start processing 4 000 metric tonnes allocated to them in August, which the company said could not be caught because of bad weather at sea during the winter months.

This is despite the ongoing litigation against Fishcor by SPP.

On Thursday, the two parties represented by Peya Hitula, the chief executive office of Tunacor, and, Milka Mungunda, a member of Fishcor’s interim board, signed an of agreement at the fishing factory’s premises.

Hitula says his company is conscious that the available quota is not infinite so they will continue to grow and generate more value without adding pressure to their existing resources.

“We remain confident that the protocol to be signed today with our partners will cement a future for the employees and provide them with an income to sustain themselves and their families,” he said.

Hitula explained that Tunacor is in the process of recruiting the employees, who will be enlisted on a special payroll as their employment contract is valid until March 2021.

Tunacor currently has no vacancies but Hitula is optimistic that the employees will be integrated into the company’s four processing facilities and 15 vessels as and when positions become available.

“Despite that, the fact is that the employees will still receive remuneration and an income for the interim period as advised by madam Milka Mungunda from Fishcor,” said Hitula.

The two parties agreed on a basic salary of N$2 500 per employee, which translates to a monthly salary bill of N$1,6 million for the former SPP workers. The employees will receive their first salary in the next two weeks although they have not worked.

Mungunda says Fishcor went into the relationship with Tunacor as a temporary measure while they are working out a long-term solution for SPP employees.

“We did not favour Tunacor and don’t know Tunacor. The four of us (Fishcor board members) have no interest in the fishing industry and we don’t understand it. But after we did a lot of research and had discussions [… ] we accepted the offer from Tunacor,” said Mungunda.

According to the agreement, employees will not be compensated on a no-work no-pay relationship but they will receive a monthly salary.

Mungunda declined to say why they started dishing out quotas to other companies while there is an ongoing court case between Fishcor and SPP.

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