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The Congress of South African Trade Unions pledges its support for the 153 diamond polishers employed by the Lev Leviev Diamond (LLD) Polishing Company in Windhoek, Namibia, who have been on strike since June 19th to protest abusive managers as well as job appraisals and promotions, wages and outstanding overtime.
Adalah-NY, the Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, report that the company, owned by Lev Leviev, whose companies are already a target of global condemnation for building Israeli settlements in the West Bank in violation of international law, has suspended the 153 strikers and is threatening to begin disciplinary hearings leading to firings, claiming the strike is illegal, according to the Namibian newspaper the New Era.
“The relevant employees will be issued with notices to appear before a disciplinary hearing committee, upon which if found guilty they may face severe penalties and possible dismissal,” LLD Managing Director K. Kapwanga threatened in the newspaper The Namibian.
The workers have been camped outside night and day a few hundred yards from the factory gates, after a court injunction forced them to move there from their original picket line.
Lev Leviev’s companies have been building of settlements in the West Bank in violation of international law, as well as his abuses of workers and communities from Angola to New York City. One fruit of Adalah-NY’s campaign has been UNICEF’s announcement on June 20th that it would no longer take donations from Leviev, which followed a similar decision by Oxfam International.
COSATU urges unions, supporters of human rights for Palestinians, and all other social justice groups to send messages of protest to LLD management, demanding that the strikers not be fired and that their demands be met (addresses and phone numbers to send messages to are below).
The company’s threats take on added weight because of support the government gave to its claim: Labour Commissioner Mathew Shinguadja has also claimed that the strike is illegal according to the New Era.