Napwu ‘sold out’ NAC workers

THE rehired workers of the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) are gearing up for a strike after they were ‘sold out’ by the Namibia Public Workers Union (Napwu) in a restructuring exercise, which saw the entire workforce laid-off.

The NAC retrenched all its workers at the end of March and rehired some of them with worse employment conditions than they previously had. A total of 70 workers have already signed up for industrial action and plans are afoot to get the ball rolling in the next 48 hours.Minister of Labour, Immanuel Ngatjizeko told The Namibian yesterday that he had been advising Minister of Works, Erkki Nghimtina, and the NAC board about the restructuring process and to follow the correct procedures laid down in the Labour Act.’The position of the ministry [Labour] has been that the whole process must follow the law. It [the process] has not entirely been in accordance with the Labour Act because there had been omissions here and there,’ Ngatjizeko said.Prime Minister Nahas Angula when contacted yesterday said that he recently met with the NAC board and the management and was not ‘convinced’ by their explanation with respect to their abiding by the Labour Law. Namibia Transport and Allied Workers Union (Natau) secretary general John Kwedhi said that members of the NAC workers standing committee are busy mobilising other workers at all eight airports and will inform the union for it to follow proper channels before embarking on the action.’The workers have decided to withdraw and suspend their labour and tomorrow we will take a final decision,’ Kwedhi said yesterday.Labour experts that The Namibian spoke to yesterday said that Napwu sold out the NAC workers by agreeing to the wholesale retrenchment of the workforce. The union did not even bother to ensure that workers re-hired were either going back to improved, or even the same conditions of employment. These sentiments were expressed by labour experts this week, after the ‘rushed’ restructuring of the parastatal was effected at the end of March this year.Napwu’s mandate as the exclusive bargaining agent for the NAC workers was to expire at the end of March while it was negotiating the ‘ill-conceived’ restructuring. Napwu and NAC unilaterally extended the union’s mandate by three months to the end of June, without consulting the workers.Also Napwu did not have the majority of membership at the time it was negotiating the retrenchment of the workers, as most of its members walked over to its sister union, Natau.Napwu general secretary Peter Nevonga defended the extension of the recognition agreement saying that it is not automatic when a union loses majority membership it also loses recognition.’There are procedures to be followed so the validity of the recognition agreement is something else,’ he said.Asked about the strike threat, Nevonga who is still clinging to the Napwu recognition agreement with NAC, said yesterday that his union is not party to the impending strike, saying his members approached the union with some ‘issues’ that are being resolved.’It is not something [the strike] we can comment on since Napwu is not party to it,’ said Nevonga.The restructuring agreement signed between Napwu and NAC on 7th March shows that the union did little to ensure reasonable pay packages for the workers in the event they were re-hired.’It is actually scandalous and Napwu has really sold the workers out,’ a labour expert who declined to be named commented on the agreement.A three-line clause which deals with placement does not give ‘any right or privilege to an employee to demand conditions of employment,’ the expert said.It also unclear why some workers received no salaries, or next to nothing in salaries at the end of last month,when a clause in the agreement stipulates that outstanding debt in market related overpayments will be written off.’Employees who have partially or fully settled their market-related overpayments shall be reimbursed in equal proportion to the amount of payment paid back to NAC towards settlement of their market-related overpayments,’ the agreement reads.In fact the pay slips given to the workers do not indicate their basic salaries or the nature of deductions made.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.

The Namibian uses AI tools to assist with improved quality, accuracy and efficiency, while maintaining editorial oversight and journalistic integrity.