By Nformi Sonde Kinsai
Workers of the Cameroon Tea Estate, CTE, Ndu Estate, who have been on a strike for close to two months now, have been advised to take their individual complaints to the court of law.
CTE Ndu Estate workers waiting their exact dues
The advice was dished out to the workers on October 11 by the Provincial Delegate of Labour and Social Security for the Northwest, Simon Ade Fru, during one of the crisis meetings to urge the striking workers collect FCFA 181,653,195 that was brought for payment of workers' dues.
The money, which was rejected on grounds of being grossly insufficient to handle claims by workers, was brought to CTE Ndu on October 5 by Northwest Governor Koumpa Issa.
The strike action had been sparked off by delays in the payment of diverse financial benefits following the privatisation of the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC, and the layoff of workers.
In desperate moves to entice the workers to collect the money, Ade said if the sum that was brought to Ndu was eventually taken away because of the 'stubbornness' of the striking workers, it would be an uphill task for the said money to ever be disbursed again by government.
The workers, through one of their spokespersons, Francis Kolle, told the delegate that they (workers) had resolved that the money be taken away, properly calculated and make sure that the names of all the 853 workers are on the list.
One of the reasons for the rejection of the money centred on the fact that names of some workers were removed from the original list that was forwarded. Kolle equally told the delegate that workers want money that was deducted from their salaries for various reasons such as social contributions, to be paid into the CNPS fund by government.
They are also claiming sums of money slashed from their salaries for their credit union but which was not eventually paid into the account of that institution.After a lengthy exchange, Ade advised the workers that it is better for them to collect the money and those who claim that their money was wrongly calculated can then file individual complaints in law courts.
The advice was followed by a radio announcement, which was read over the Donga Mantung Community Radio, DMCR, network, calling on workers of CTE Ndu who have not yet collected their money to go and do so from the Sub-divisional Treasury in Ndu.
Betrayal
Many of the workers gave a deaf ear to the Delegate's advice, but The Post gathered that eight of them sneaked to the Ndu Sub-divisional Treasury and collected their money.
One of the striking workers, who preferred to remain anonymous, later told The Post that the eight, whom he described as blacklegs, were betrayed by sureties they took along to collect the money. He noted that from investigation, they discovered that seven men and a woman went and signed out the money against consensus by the workers to reject the money.
Contacted on phone on October 21, Kolle confirmed that some workers, in an attempt to betray the cause of the workers, secretly went and collected their money. He said he was in Yaounde to submit a memo to the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Prof. Robert Nkili.
He said even though he was not received by the Minister, the memo which contains the 'right' calculations of sums due the workers was handed in. He said contrary to the little over FCFA 181 million which was brought to Ndu by Governor Koumpa Issa as workers' dues, a calculation done by a committee from amongst themselves indicate that CTE Ndu workers are owed over FCFA 2.9 billion.
He outlined parameters such as severance pay; amounts attach to notice for termination of contracts; underpayment dues; compensation for sums deducted from salaries for over the years without interests; five percent shares to workers as stipulated by privatisation contract; good separation bonus and return transport fares to retrenched former CDC workers, as basis on which the FCFA 2.9 billion owed them was arrived at.
On why the CTE Ndu workers are hesitant in collecting the money when their colleagues of Tole and Djutittsa have already signed out sums allocated to them, Kolle said the situation of Djutittsa workers is completely different.
He termed the money paid to Djutittsa workers as dash arguing that the working contracts of the said workers have remained the same since the days of the CDC.
Identifying discrimination in the handling of the issue, he said Djutittsa workers are still providing services as permanent workers, entitled to family allowances and other social benefits while those of them in Ndu were dismissed en masse and are providing services of unspecified duration.
Gov't Blamed For Neglect
Kolle said the problems cropping up today are because government neglected the workers, trade unions and the labour ministry in negotiation during the privatisation process, maintaining that workers cannot be held responsible for mistakes committed by government.
He said a case file was submitted in one of the courts in Nkambe but said since then; the case has never been called up. He added that the workers are not interested in going to the court considering that their adversary is a very heavy financial weight coupled with the corrupt justice system in the country.
Meanwhile, on October 17, the striking workers visited the homes of their colleagues who went and collected their own share of the money with a mock coffin and a cross, performed burial rites at their door steps and inscribed "may your soul rest in peace" on their doors. According to the workers, these were signs announcing the death and burial of the traitors.
The coffin, which was infested with fetishes was later burnt on the highway close to the head office of CTE Ndu and the workers later took an oath on the ashes not to collect the sums they described as insufficient.
Striking Ndu Workers, My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
You people must fight for your rights. Dont listen to the colonial governor. He like other unquestionable psychopaths who are all members of Mr Biya's corrupt junta can never listen to you. They are just there to fool here and steal your resources. They look at you as their slaves and you must fight for your rights. I am just from a meeting/public debate with some world bank executives and it is all known even among world bank cycles that the problem with Africa is grounded on a blackmans greed and lack of concience. That is what Paul Biya and his gang of bandits are. They are not the least interested in our future. All they care about is how to steal our resources and enrich themselves. Nothing is working and nothing will work. We must empower a new generation that will take control of Africa and this new generation have to have a different mentality from ours. We see evil even here. We see evil people like Dr Agbormbai, Sala, Ricardo, Francis Nche, etc. defending the blood thirsty regime of La Republique simply because it is serving their selfish interest. We must fight to destroy all the chains of evil that includes corruption, tribalism, nepotism, etc. As we are discussing, they are training their children and relatives to continue the network of corruption. They are planning and distributing places in Enam, Emia, Parastatals, etc for their offsprings to continue the network of evil. Wherever and whenever you meet the families of this criminals, their children, etc. warn them and tell them to advise their parents. If you are scared, write their names here, where they are, etc and we will confront them and err our grievances. Our people really need our support to challenge these evils.
We really need the help and support of each and every rightminded person.
God Bless You All.
Posted by: rexon | Thursday, 26 October 2006 at 06:08 PM