Employees at Tunacor, a fishing company based in Walvis Bay, allege that they are prohibited from being represented by labor unions during disciplinary hearings.

The workers expressed their anger and frustration as they claim they are being denied the right to be represented by labor unions during disciplinary hearings.

"Many workers were dismissed for minor things, and our company, Tunacor, has the highest rate of dismissal in the whole fishing industry. Tunacor fisheries management dismissed at least three people per month between 2021 and 2022; they dismissed 94 last year. 94 dismissed workers were employed at Sea Fresh, which operates at Tunacor; around sixteen employees were dismissed, and all these employees were denied the right to be represented by the union, which is wrong. Our company is the only one in the whole fishing industry where workers are not allowed to be represented by a trade union," said Mwaafa Labanus, a shopsteward at the company.

The workers requested that management and shareholders consider establishing a trust fund specifically for their benefit.

"Tunacor Fisheries Limited is one of the few companies in the fishing industry that does not have a trust fund for its employees. Although our company is one of the oldest and biggest fishing companies, it never considers giving its workers any profit sharing, particularly when the company makes a profit. Other companies have a trust fund that rewards its employees by sharing the profits that the company makes from time to time."

The workers are represented by the Namibia Seaman and Allied Workers Union, and the union leader, Paulus Hango, has pledged to persist with the protest on behalf of the workers.

"If they do not adhere to the calls of the workers, the demonstration will continue as we said. We are planning many demonstrations, some of which may end up going to the Ministry of Labour to hand over the petition and also the Ministry of Fisheries because we say enough is enough with Tunacor. Because we are not really happy with the way they are treating their employees, the relationship with the management of Tunacor and the workers is not that good, and also with the trade union, it is not that good."

In response to this, Tunacor Managing Director Peya Hitula stated that the company provides numerous benefits to the workers, including the provision of monthly wages.

"The company itself has many benefits that it does ensure that our employees receive, including salaries on a monthly basis. The fishing sector, in particular, has affected Tunacor. The economic conditions have affected Tunacor to the extent that our operations are impacted. Of course, as the management, we do our level best to make sure we keep the company afloat all the way through, from the time we experienced COVID. We experienced the economic downturn that was caused by the war in Ukraine, where fuel prices also increased tremendously, but we are still standing firm. We have not let go of any employees. I can also firmly say that we will continue to do our level best to ensure that we sustain a sustainable operation going forward. And we will definitely look into all of these issues that you have raised here and make sure that we address all of them as we have heard them today for the first time."

The workers have issued a 10-day ultimatum to the company, demanding the resolution of their grievances and problems.