Aggrieved interpreters to meet PM’s Office

A MEETING between court interpreters and officials from the Office of the Prime Minister is scheduled for today as the two parties try to avoid a national strike at courts.

A source told The Namibian over the weekend that the meeting would be used to try and come to an amicable agreement on the job grades of court interpreters. “If we can’t agree there, we will be moving closer to a national strike.We hope that the Office of the Prime Minister will understand the dilemma the court interpreters are in.We really hope,” said one interpreter.The court interpreters will be represented by the Namibian Public Workers’ Union (Napwu), which has already threatened Government with “unprecedented action”.Full-time court interpreters are demanding to be put on par with legal clerks in the Ministry of Justice because they spend over 90 per cent of their time doing clerical work rather than interpreting in courts.The Ministry uses mainly part-time interpreters in courtrooms, while the permanently employed interpreters, especially at the High Court, concentrate on paperwork.However, the Public Service Commission has refused to regrade the full-time interpreters, forcing Napwu to inform the Ministry of Justice that they would stop doing clerical work.A return to courtrooms by full-time interpreters would force the Ministry of Justice to lay off the part-time workers.Napwu claims the Ministry of Justice has employed many part-time interpreters on a casual basis for years – contrary to the Labour Act, which states that no employer may use a person more than two consecutive days a week for three weeks without appointing such a person permanently.A senior official at the Ministry of Justice said their hands were tied.He said the Ministry of Justice had contacted the Department of Public Service Management in the Office of the Prime Minister to suggest the regrading of the court interpreters to the level of legal clerks, but was informed that the two job categories were distinct in terms of their entry requirements and functions.”If we can’t agree there, we will be moving closer to a national strike.We hope that the Office of the Prime Minister will understand the dilemma the court interpreters are in.We really hope,” said one interpreter.The court interpreters will be represented by the Namibian Public Workers’ Union (Napwu), which has already threatened Government with “unprecedented action”.Full-time court interpreters are demanding to be put on par with legal clerks in the Ministry of Justice because they spend over 90 per cent of their time doing clerical work rather than interpreting in courts. The Ministry uses mainly part-time interpreters in courtrooms, while the permanently employed interpreters, especially at the High Court, concentrate on paperwork.However, the Public Service Commission has refused to regrade the full-time interpreters, forcing Napwu to inform the Ministry of Justice that they would stop doing clerical work.A return to courtrooms by full-time interpreters would force the Ministry of Justice to lay off the part-time workers.Napwu claims the Ministry of Justice has employed many part-time interpreters on a casual basis for years – contrary to the Labour Act, which states that no employer may use a person more than two consecutive days a week for three weeks without appointing such a person permanently.A senior official at the Ministry of Justice said their hands were tied.He said the Ministry of Justice had contacted the Department of Public Service Management in the Office of the Prime Minister to suggest the regrading of the court interpreters to the level of legal clerks, but was informed that the two job categories were distinct in terms of their entry requirements and functions.