Close to 20 workers of Choppies Supermarket in Oshakati held a peaceful demonstration against their employer, demanding better wages and other benefits.
The demonstration was part of the nationwide demonstration by Choppies workers held on 14 August.
The Oshakati demonstration was held at Santorini Choppies and was attended by workers of Santorini Choppies and Etango Choppies, as well as the national coordinator of NAFAU Mr Johannes Shayuka.
In a petition read by Santorini Choppies employee Ms Sara Gerhard, the workers demanded transport allowances, housing allowances, pension fund contributions, overtime pay, as well as an end to the “flexi contract” system.
“We the Choppies employees in Namibia would like to express our deepest disappointment with our employer; we have been underpaid for eight years since 2017 when Choppies started operating in Namibia,” the petition read.
“We only get paid N$8 per hour, and this amounts to only N$1,560 per month. This is contrary to the national minimum wage of N$18 per hour. As a result we are unable to send our children to school.”
The petition further stated that in March this year 200 workers received retrenchment notices, but then their employment contracts were changed to “flexi hour contracts”.
“We demand the abolishment of this flexi contract system. We demand to receive our minimum wages of N$18 per hour. We also demand fair treatment and dignity from our managers.
“We are giving the management of Choppies 10 working days to honour our demands, failure of which we will take unspecified action.”
Mr Johannes Shayuka said that Choppies has been making money in Namibia but only does not want to pay its workers decent wages.
“Choppies continues to open new shops, which means that it has money. In fact in Botswana the minimum wages for Choppies workers is N$5,000, while in Namibia it is exploiting workers.
“We as NAFAU are no longer going to allow that. If this company is not going to comply with our demands we will not stop here, we will continue. We are ready to stand together with our communities and take decisive action.”
The manager for both Choppies Santorini and Choppies Etango Mr Tobias Makili received the petition and said he had no comment. He said he will forward the petition to the company’s headquarters in Windhoek.
In the photo: Choppies workers demonstrating for better wages.
