|
Philippine Ambassador to South Africa Virgilio Reyes,
Jr. reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that 250 Filipino
nationals working in Namibia will eventually be repatriated to the
Philippines because of the sudden notice of closure filed by their
employer, the Flamingo Garments/ Ramatex Textile Company.
That company employed more than
1,000 Filipino workers in 2002 but labor problems and the closure of
its subsidiaries forced a reduction in the number of its laborers.
Reyes said that the Philippine
Embassy in Pretoria received a letter from the management of Ramatex
Textiles Namibia (Pty) Ltd. dated March 6, 2008, which stated that
“there is no magic solution to guarantee future success to the
business operation [of the company].”
This is not the first time that
the embassy had to intervene on behalf of Filipinos employed by
Ramatex.
On February 13 and 14 of last
year, 20 Filipinos filed a complaint against the company before the
Namibian labor court on grounds of illegal termination, and
non-payment of accrued leave of absence and tax refund. The Filipino
workers stated that while Namibian labor laws grant 24 days vacation
leave per year, their contract only gave them seven days.
Since then, an additional 160
Filipino workers joined the original complainants in filing for
claims against the company. While the workers want to terminate
their association with the company and return to the Philippines,
they are unhappy with the exit packages offered to them which they
claim do not meet the company’s legal obligations to their
laborers.
Reyes also reported that 40
Filipinos occupying management positions in the company requested
assistance for their repatriation, since they are not included among
the complainants but have accepted the company’s offer of exit
package and repatriation ticket.
The majority of the Filipino
workers have opted to remain in Namibia in the meantime, and joined
the Namibian Food and Allied Workers Union, which is representing
3,000 Namibian workers in negotiating their severance pay under the
country’s labor law. Reyes said the embassy is in constant
coordination with the leaders of the Filipino group, the lawyers and
concerned Namibian authorities.
 --Katrice
R. Jalbuena
|
