Union calls off airport workers’ strike

A STRIKE by workers at the Namibia Airports Company (NAC), which was scheduled to start tomorrow, was averted yesterday when the company and the Namibia Public Workers’ Union (Napwu) reached an agreement that was to be signed last night.

The agreement will see workers’ salaries upped to a level on par with other State-owned enterprises, as was demanded. The increases will be backdated about two and a half years.Workers initially demanded back pay to June 2003, and that 20 per cent interest be added to this.Napwu Deputy Secretary General Gabes Andumba yesterday told to The Namibian that these extra demands had to be dropped to show that the workers were negotiating in good faith.The NAC board remained locked in meetings throughout the day yesterday, after an initial meeting on Tuesday did not resolve the matter.Napwu yesterday met with workers at the Eros and Hosea Kutako airports, discussing their plan of action.Speaking to The Namibian earlier in the day, NAC spokesperson Vicky Raimond-Muranda said the company saw the absence of lunch-time demonstrations at airports across the country as a good sign that the threatened strike would not happen.The workers had given the company until the end of business today to meet their demands.An earlier agreement between Napwu and Government in February apparently acknowledged that NAC workers’ salaries were below market average, but promises to rectify the situation have remained in the pipeline since then.The workers faced a unique situation, as their bargaining unit Napwu discouraged their plans to go on strike, blaming the workers’ frustration on alleged instigation by a sub-group of workers.The increases will be backdated about two and a half years.Workers initially demanded back pay to June 2003, and that 20 per cent interest be added to this.Napwu Deputy Secretary General Gabes Andumba yesterday told to The Namibian that these extra demands had to be dropped to show that the workers were negotiating in good faith.The NAC board remained locked in meetings throughout the day yesterday, after an initial meeting on Tuesday did not resolve the matter.Napwu yesterday met with workers at the Eros and Hosea Kutako airports, discussing their plan of action.Speaking to The Namibian earlier in the day, NAC spokesperson Vicky Raimond-Muranda said the company saw the absence of lunch-time demonstrations at airports across the country as a good sign that the threatened strike would not happen.The workers had given the company until the end of business today to meet their demands.An earlier agreement between Napwu and Government in February apparently acknowledged that NAC workers’ salaries were below market average, but promises to rectify the situation have remained in the pipeline since then.The workers faced a unique situation, as their bargaining unit Napwu discouraged their plans to go on strike, blaming the workers’ frustration on alleged instigation by a sub-group of workers.