NUNW pushes permanent deal for long-serving farm workers

WORKERS employed for more than 10 years on a farm must be granted the right to stay on the property permanently with their dependents and animals, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) proposed yesterday.

NUNW Deputy Secretary General Evilastus Kaaronda said the current Labour Act stated that workers can farm on their employers’ land but excluded dependents and those retrenched or dismissed. Referring to those who work for more than 10 years as “general farm workers”, Kaaronda proposed that the Labour Act be amended to allow such people to stay on after being dismissed or retrenched and also to be able to bring in their dependents.He said the NUNW was “worried by the conspicuous absence of a provision in the Labour Act pertaining to land tenure rights of the farm workers”.The NUNW said its proposal was in line with the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into labour-related matters affecting farm and domestic workers.Kaaronda said the Kameeta Report found that the Labour Act failed to deal with the issue of kinship at farms.”The NUNW strongly believes that granted, these tenure rights will significantly ease the burden on Government land reform programme as workers will be accommodated through the granting of such tenure rights,” he said.However, he was silent on what will happen if such farm changes ownership under the same land reform programme currently staring expropriation.Kaaronda said even a white farm worker qualified to remain on the farm under the union’s proposal.The NUNW also called on the Government to fully implement recommendations of the Kameeta Commission to better the living conditions of around 32 000 farm workers in the country.According to him only 279 of the workers were registered with the Social Security Commission.The Kameeta Commission called for the introduction of the minimum wage; that child labour be treated as a matter of national concern; and that children of farmworkers be exempted from paying school fees or alternatively Government help their parents by subsidising these fees.It also suggested that children of school-going age be barred from full-time employment and that a law be passed to compel children to attend school.The Commission further recommended that the Labour Act be amended to allow children to work during school holidays, that labour inspectors should make regular visits to farms to prevent child labour and that children who had left school be sent back to complete their schooling.Of all the recommendations made five years ago, only the minimum wage has been introduced.Referring to those who work for more than 10 years as “general farm workers”, Kaaronda proposed that the Labour Act be amended to allow such people to stay on after being dismissed or retrenched and also to be able to bring in their dependents.He said the NUNW was “worried by the conspicuous absence of a provision in the Labour Act pertaining to land tenure rights of the farm workers”.The NUNW said its proposal was in line with the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into labour-related matters affecting farm and domestic workers.Kaaronda said the Kameeta Report found that the Labour Act failed to deal with the issue of kinship at farms.”The NUNW strongly believes that granted, these tenure rights will significantly ease the burden on Government land reform programme as workers will be accommodated through the granting of such tenure rights,” he said.However, he was silent on what will happen if such farm changes ownership under the same land reform programme currently staring expropriation.Kaaronda said even a white farm worker qualified to remain on the farm under the union’s proposal.The NUNW also called on the Government to fully implement recommendations of the Kameeta Commission to better the living conditions of around 32 000 farm workers in the country.According to him only 279 of the workers were registered with the Social Security Commission.The Kameeta Commission called for the introduction of the minimum wage; that child labour be treated as a matter of national concern; and that children of farmworkers be exempted from paying school fees or alternatively Government help their parents by subsidising these fees.It also suggested that children of school-going age be barred from full-time employment and that a law be passed to compel children to attend school.The Commission further recommended that the Labour Act be amended to allow children to work during school holidays, that labour inspectors should make regular visits to farms to prevent child labour and that children who had left school be sent back to complete their schooling.Of all the recommendations made five years ago, only the minimum wage has been introduced.