Africa-Press – Namibia. Workers’ Day was yesterday marked by calls for fair wages, reskilling amid the disruption of artificial intelligence (AI), and equitable resource use as labour challenges persist.
National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) secretary general Job Muniaro yesterday said the original goal of advocating for workers’ rights during the colonial period is still relevant today as workers continue to face challenges in the workplace.
He said employees are still working in less than ideal conditions, hence the importance of them still being represented.
NUNW yesterday hosted a Workers’ Day event at Oshakati in the Oshana region under the theme, ‘Workers Demand Natural Resources Beneficiation, Value Addition, Decent Wages and Youth Empowerment’.
Muniaro said Workers’ Day is observed in light of emerging challenges facing workers, including new technologies such as AI.
“When you have such a challenge and the workers of your country are not reskilled in terms of the technologies that are coming, it becomes a challenge because you might lose your employment to foreigners.
“That’s one of the challenges. We, therefore, need to either increase retraining, or we need a reskilling or upskilling of workers for them to adapt to the new technological employment that is coming in,” he said.
The secretary general of the Trade Union Congress of Namibia (Tucna), Mahongora Kavihuha, echoed Muniaro’s sentiments, saying labour unions are more important than ever before – especially in the new dispensation.
Tucna observed the day under the theme ‘Industrialisation, Trade, Decent Work for Social Justice’ at Lüderitz in the //Kharas region.
“Industrialisation in the Namibian context was already identified in Vision 2030, and we are only left with five years before Vision 2030 ends. The 25 years have been dedicated to rhetoric, and we want that changed.
“We want to benefit from the resources,” he said.
Labour expert Herbert Jauch says Workers’ Day is observed amid challenges in the local labour sector, including the introduction of AI.
“It’s a very tough time when you look at the recent data we have on unemployment, with a broad definition that includes even those who are unemployed and have given up looking for work, as they are now discouraged. If we include them, our unemployment rate stands at 54%,” he says.
Jauch says the situation is compounded by low wages, with the latest data indicating that 45% of Namibians earn N$3 000 or less per month.
He says the only step forward this year was the introduction of a national minimum wage for the first time of N$18 per hour.
Jauch says although it is far from a living wage, unions now need to ensure it is implemented across the board.
AI can benefit workers only if it increases productivity while allowing them to work fewer hours without a decrease in their current salaries, or with better salaries, he says.
“But if AI is solely under the control of corporations and employers, it would likely lead to a further reduction in jobs as employers can maintain the same level of production with fewer workers and the use of technology.”
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