Africa-Press – Namibia. EMPLOYEES of the Rehoboth Town Council downed tools on Wednesday over a wage dispute.
Namibian Public Workers Union (Napwu) branch organiser Lesley Mosegedi said the strike is due to an unresolved dispute regarding salary increases for workers.
Mosegedi said the workers were initially demanding an increase of 6,5% for general labourers, 5% for team leaders and 3,5% for middle management employees. However, during negotiations in November last year, the union and the town council reached a deadlock, and Napwu lodged a case with the Office of the Labour Commissioner.
“Conciliation started in February this year. When we went to conciliation, we went with a revised demand of a 4% increment on salaries across the board. But during proceedings, the two parties failed to reach an agreement, resulting in the issuance of a certificate of a non-resolved dispute by the labour commissioner to Napwu,” said Mosegedi.
This certificate was issued two weeks ago.
Mosegedi said the workers are willing to resume work, should the council agree to the 4% increment on salaries across the board, and sign the agreement prepared by Napwu.
Acting chief executive officer of the Rehoboth Town Council Ronald Windswaai said after conciliation the town council held an internal council meeting, where it resolved on 28 April to award the 4% salary increment across the board, subject to ministerial approval.
Windswaai said the council applied for the 4% salary increase with the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development.
He said the ministry responded by asking them to wait for a Cabinet directive on salary increments.
“The Cabinet directive is about salary increments in general and for public sector workers. It is also to look at whether the council can afford the increment they want to award. We are all aware of the demand by government workers currently, also for increments. So the directive is expected to give guidance on all these matters,” said Windswaai.
However, this response did not sit well with the union, and workers voted to strike until their demands are met.
“We wrote to the minister’s office on Monday again, informing them of the looming strike after the workers voted, and asked them for the way forward, but we have not received a response yet,” said Windswaai.
In the meantime, the town council is reportedly losing about N$200 000 per day in income from the public, and are facing a backlog in maintenance.
“We had a meeting with the union this morning to provide us with a skeleton staff, so we can provide the basic services. They helped us with one instance where we had multiple breakdowns in water infrastructure. But after that they said no,” said Windswaai.
Mosegedi said the town council cannot violate strike rules, as it is very clear that no temporary staff should be employed in the positions of the striking workers, while the workers who are on strike can also not provide services until the dispute has been resolved.
Executive director in the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development Nghidinwa Daniel said the town council’s request was denied.
Daniel said the letter written on Monday by council to the ministry, was to plead for reconsideration.
“The directive by Cabinet was something in general for public service workers last year. Considering the impact of Covid, the economy and the losses of jobs suffered by people. However, for Rehoboth, there was an analysis done on their income and liabilities. It was found they cannot afford additional overheads. It will place a greater burden on the community because they must increase rates to cater for the increase. And that is not advisable,” said Daniel.
The Rehoboth Town Council’s employees received a 5% salary increment across the board in 2019.
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