NHE board blocks pay-raise proposal
The National Housing Enterprise’s (NHE) board this week bluntly rejected proposals from employees for a pay raise, citing the company’s poor financial performance, amongst other things.
After its Tuesday meeting last week, the board tasked the housing agency’s CEO Gisbertus Mukulu with relaying the decision to employees the next day.
Mukulu met with employees on Wednesday, but before he could even deliver the message, employees abruptly stood up and walked out of the venue, leaving their boss with egg on his face.
This after workers last week voted in favour of industrial action after the company refused to budge on demands for wage increments.
The employees - represented by the Public Service Union of Namibia (PSUN) - are especially aggrieved by what they believe is a veiled threat by the board that going on strike may open them up to arbitrary retrenchments.
Will not yield
“The board will simply not yield to the demands of the workers and has threatened workers with retrenchment. We are therefore going to the labour commissioner’s office to secure a date for the industrial action and for the strike conditions to be laid out. The board has also refused flatly to meet with the union,” PSUN secretary-general Matthew Haakuria said.
He added that they remain open to negotiations and collective bargaining.
According to him, the NHE has tried to intimidate workers to give in, but instead workers have been angered and are now more motivated than ever to down tools in their pursuit of increments.
No work, no pay
The NHE announced that it would invoke a ‘no work, no pay’ rule during the planned industrial action, adding that the strike would negatively impact the company’s operations.
Meanwhile, NHE spokesperson Tuafi Shafombabi said a once-off payment across the board - in lieu of a salary increase for the 2021/22 financial year - has also been declined by the board.
“The following factors were taken into consideration: The financial position, sustainability and performance of the organisation. The board further took into consideration the employees’ interest as well as the interest of the organisation. It is not the board’s desire to have any employee retrenched in this current economic climate,” she said.
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After its Tuesday meeting last week, the board tasked the housing agency’s CEO Gisbertus Mukulu with relaying the decision to employees the next day.
Mukulu met with employees on Wednesday, but before he could even deliver the message, employees abruptly stood up and walked out of the venue, leaving their boss with egg on his face.
This after workers last week voted in favour of industrial action after the company refused to budge on demands for wage increments.
The employees - represented by the Public Service Union of Namibia (PSUN) - are especially aggrieved by what they believe is a veiled threat by the board that going on strike may open them up to arbitrary retrenchments.
Will not yield
“The board will simply not yield to the demands of the workers and has threatened workers with retrenchment. We are therefore going to the labour commissioner’s office to secure a date for the industrial action and for the strike conditions to be laid out. The board has also refused flatly to meet with the union,” PSUN secretary-general Matthew Haakuria said.
He added that they remain open to negotiations and collective bargaining.
According to him, the NHE has tried to intimidate workers to give in, but instead workers have been angered and are now more motivated than ever to down tools in their pursuit of increments.
No work, no pay
The NHE announced that it would invoke a ‘no work, no pay’ rule during the planned industrial action, adding that the strike would negatively impact the company’s operations.
Meanwhile, NHE spokesperson Tuafi Shafombabi said a once-off payment across the board - in lieu of a salary increase for the 2021/22 financial year - has also been declined by the board.
“The following factors were taken into consideration: The financial position, sustainability and performance of the organisation. The board further took into consideration the employees’ interest as well as the interest of the organisation. It is not the board’s desire to have any employee retrenched in this current economic climate,” she said.
[email protected]
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