Africa-Press – Namibia. MINISTER of urban and rural development Erastus Uutoni has called for sanity at the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) following a prolonged strike, where workers are demanding better work conditions.
The workers marched from their head office in Eros on Friday to submit a petition to the minister to have their grievances addressed.
Earlier last week, NHE said it could not meet the 7% increment the workers are demanding, as the company is in a challenging financial situation.
“I am encouraging the union and the NHE management to work together and avoid things that will hamper our relationship,” he said after receiving the petition from the union.
According to the Public Service Union of Namibia secretary general, Mathew Haakuria, this is the third time they are approaching the minister’s office regarding the NHE affairs.
“It is worth reminding you that our first and second-time attempts did not yield any results as we still remain in the dark as to the actions your office took to address the concerns of workers at NHE,” Haakuria said.
He said the union was, however, aware that the NHE management and the previous board continued to subvert orderly collective bargaining in line with the Labour Act 11 of 2007.
“We, therefore, believe that you did not interact with them as desired. Despite this, we still have faith in your office to resolve this matter, hence why we are still approaching your office,” he said.
About 50 NHE employees, who loudly expressed their dissatisfaction, participated in the protest.
“The workers’ demands are not unreasonable, as all the proposals made were supported by the current NHE management and it was the previous board that rejected them in total without giving any credible explanation, he said.”
According to Haakuria, the NHE management is threatening workers with their ill-understood notions of the no-work, no-pay principle and retrenchment.
“We have been in the trenches and we understand the bourgeoisie style of abusing and threatening workers. We can invoke our societal power of seeking the support of other progressive forces as we know where our powers are,” he added.
Haakuria said the workers are demanding a dialogue with the management and the new board to resolve the industrial action.
He added that as long as their demands are not heard, the strike will continue.
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
