{"id":26167,"date":"2022-07-27T16:05:24","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T16:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay"},"modified":"2022-07-27T16:05:24","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T16:05:24","slug":"govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay","title":{"rendered":"Govt threatens no work, no pay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>AS public servants are getting ready to vote in favour of a nationwide strike, the Namibian government yesterday said it has no obligation to pay them if they partake in industrial action.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise that the employees in terms of the law have the right to strike, however, under those circumstances, the employer is under no obligation to remunerate any of the employees who take part in the industrial action,\u201d minister of labour, industrial relations and employment creation Utoni Nujoma yesterday said at a press conference.<\/p>\n

The government and its workers have reached a deadlock over salary increments.<\/p>\n

Public servants want a 9% increase on their basic salary and housing benefit, as well as a 10% hike in their transport benefit.<\/p>\n

The government has maintained it cannot meet these demands, and has offered increased benefits of 4,5% on housing, and 10% on transport.<\/p>\n

This offer was then revised to a 7% increase on the home owners scheme for staff members, an increase on the housing benefit for non-management workers to 14,5%, an increased housing benefit for management to 12%, and a transport benefit increase for non-managers to 14%.<\/p>\n

This would cost the government N$334,9 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout being pre-emptive of the outcomes of the ballot exercise scheduled for 28 to 29 July, we wish to point out there are consequences for the government, the public servants, and the country at large,\u201d Nujoma warned.<\/p>\n

The government’s wage bill for this financial year is expected to total around N$30,1 billion \u2013 half of the budgeted revenue of N$59,7 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation is already undesirable, with the government spending up to 48,9% of the national budget on public servants, who make up only about 4,2% of the population and just over 10% of the Namibian workforce,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Public servants have been on the same salary scale for the past seven years.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, engaging in a strike would only weaken our economic base, disrupt public service delivery, and distort all recovery efforts,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n

The government wants further talks with the unions \u201cso that issues of disagreements are further discussed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nujoma said the government’s offer commits to no job losses in the public sector.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Also) the need to sustain critical public services and programmes, as well as to protect public service jobs, (and) the value and contribution of staff members to public service delivery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Minister of education, arts and culture Anna Nghipondoka said the government is pleading with civil servants to understand and continue their resilience to allow the economy to recover.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact of school closures would be severe in terms of hostel catering and hostel accommodation. Pupils would not be able to be in the hostel without people to prepare their meals and to supervise them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said if teachers go on strike many pupils relying on Namibia’s school-feeding programme would be severely impacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the event of a teacher strike, the first concern is that pupils have already experienced immense learning loss over the past two years, and need time to recover through face-to-face learning opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome pupils are still performing below the expected curriculum standards and competencies,\u201d Nghipondoka said.<\/p>\n

She said the government has embarked on a number of measures aimed at fostering fiscal prudence and consolidation as well as to stimulate economic recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impacts of such measures can, however, only be expected in the medium to long term, and we thus appeal for patience,\u201d Nghipondoka said.<\/p>\n

She said public servants are free to exercise their constitutional rights, however, they are urged to act rationally and to consider not only their needs and interests, but also those of fellow citizens and the country at large.<\/p>\n

The government currently employs over 100 000 workers.<\/p>\n

‘WE ARE NOT MOVED’<\/p>\n

Public Service Union of Namibia secretary general, Ndjizuvee Haakuria, yesterday said he is hoping the public workers would vote in favour of a strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould the unions negotiating not pull through, the employees would have to take matters into their own hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we are ready for a strike, because the government is expecting the workers to accept the current economic situation that would create further economic hardships.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is not pronouncing itself on measures to curb excessive expenditure by bureaucrats and politicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is expecting people to accept there is economic hardship, there is no money, do not go on strike, yet they continue to live lavishly, travelling abroad while they can have online meetings to show others they are serious,\u201d Haakuria said.<\/p>\n

Namibia Public Workers Union secretary general Petrus Nevonga yesterday said the union is not deterred by the government’s threats and would continue with the voting process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government can move on. We are doing what we are doing. It is fine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. AS public servants are getting ready to vote in favour of a nationwide strike, the Namibian government yesterday said it has no obligation to pay them if they partake in industrial action. \u201cWe recognise that the employees in terms of the law have the right to strike, however, under those circumstances, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":26166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-26167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nGovt threatens no work, no pay - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Govt threatens no work, no pay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Namibia. AS public servants are getting ready to vote in favour of a nationwide strike, the Namibian government yesterday said it has no obligation to pay them if they partake in industrial action. \u201cWe recognise that the employees in terms of the law have the right to strike, however, under those circumstances, the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-27T16:05:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Govt threatens no work, no pay\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-27T16:05:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay\"},\"wordCount\":798,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_16-62e1704ee94d5.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/govt-threatens-no-work-no-pay\",\"name\":\"Govt threatens no work, no pay - 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