NHE gears up for strike
National Housing Enterprise (NHE) workers are preparing to strike in the upcoming weeks over a wage dispute, a situation that could see the country’s housing agency being unable to deliver on its mandate.
A majority (90%) of NHE’s staff last week voted in favour of a strike after both management and the Public Service Union of Namibia (PSUN) reached a deadlock regarding salary hike demands.
With a housing backlog exceeding 300 000, Namibia is largely dependent on the work of NHE to reduce the backlog.
No money
Despite the looming strike, NHE board chairperson, Sam Shivute, said the entity will not cave to employee demands and warned that doing so would put staff in danger of losing their jobs.
He told Namibian Sun yesterday there is no money to meet the demands of the workers.
Demanding more
Employees are demanding that they receive an immediate once-off payment of 60% on the basic salary in lieu of the annual salary increments of 3.4% as agreed between management and the PSUN during negotiations held in February 2022; a retrospective payment for all employees who acted and got a 50% acting allowance, and a review of NHE CEO Gisbertus Mukulu’s re-appointment.
PSUN secretary general Matheus Haakuria last week appealed to NHE management to avert a complete halt in operations.
"We have informed the management structure of the NHE and at the same time invited management to engage us in the hope of collectively resolving the matter before total stoppage of the operations of the NHE is initiated," he said.
Yesterday, PSUN President Pauli Sitentu said the ball is now in NHE's court as to how they intend to settle the matter.
"We have approached the Labour Commissioner about the strike rules. We will communicate with the NHE management on the way forward. The ball is now in the court of the NHE, whether they want to settle the issue or whether they will let it be," Sitentu said.
Protecting jobs
Hitting back, Shivute said the NHE was not in a position to grant employees a salary hike, saying the financial performance of the NHE did not justify salary hikes.
"If you have an institution making losses, does it make sense to give in to employee demands? The NHE is always on losses and credit recovery is low," Shivute said.
The NHE, according to Shivute, had in the past implemented retrenchments, a situation the board did not want to see unfold again, he said.
"I do not want to see retrenchments at NHE. The impact of the strike is that if employees go on strike, they are likely to [lose] employment; we want to protect jobs, with the long-term view of protecting job security. Retrenchments have happened before, but we want job security," Shivute said.
Management problems
Staff members have in the past accused the Shivute-led board for the situation the NHE finds itself in.
"The perilous situation in which NHE finds itself is self-inflicted; this is largely due to a lack of leadership and incompetence from both the board of directors, CEO and management; the Mukulu/Shivute administration failed dismally to improve the performance of NHE both financially and operationally. Due to their actions, the entire employees are negatively affected and have not received any salary adjustments for the past three years, while the cost of living rises on a daily basis," employees said in a petition addressed to Shivute.
A majority (90%) of NHE’s staff last week voted in favour of a strike after both management and the Public Service Union of Namibia (PSUN) reached a deadlock regarding salary hike demands.
With a housing backlog exceeding 300 000, Namibia is largely dependent on the work of NHE to reduce the backlog.
No money
Despite the looming strike, NHE board chairperson, Sam Shivute, said the entity will not cave to employee demands and warned that doing so would put staff in danger of losing their jobs.
He told Namibian Sun yesterday there is no money to meet the demands of the workers.
Demanding more
Employees are demanding that they receive an immediate once-off payment of 60% on the basic salary in lieu of the annual salary increments of 3.4% as agreed between management and the PSUN during negotiations held in February 2022; a retrospective payment for all employees who acted and got a 50% acting allowance, and a review of NHE CEO Gisbertus Mukulu’s re-appointment.
PSUN secretary general Matheus Haakuria last week appealed to NHE management to avert a complete halt in operations.
"We have informed the management structure of the NHE and at the same time invited management to engage us in the hope of collectively resolving the matter before total stoppage of the operations of the NHE is initiated," he said.
Yesterday, PSUN President Pauli Sitentu said the ball is now in NHE's court as to how they intend to settle the matter.
"We have approached the Labour Commissioner about the strike rules. We will communicate with the NHE management on the way forward. The ball is now in the court of the NHE, whether they want to settle the issue or whether they will let it be," Sitentu said.
Protecting jobs
Hitting back, Shivute said the NHE was not in a position to grant employees a salary hike, saying the financial performance of the NHE did not justify salary hikes.
"If you have an institution making losses, does it make sense to give in to employee demands? The NHE is always on losses and credit recovery is low," Shivute said.
The NHE, according to Shivute, had in the past implemented retrenchments, a situation the board did not want to see unfold again, he said.
"I do not want to see retrenchments at NHE. The impact of the strike is that if employees go on strike, they are likely to [lose] employment; we want to protect jobs, with the long-term view of protecting job security. Retrenchments have happened before, but we want job security," Shivute said.
Management problems
Staff members have in the past accused the Shivute-led board for the situation the NHE finds itself in.
"The perilous situation in which NHE finds itself is self-inflicted; this is largely due to a lack of leadership and incompetence from both the board of directors, CEO and management; the Mukulu/Shivute administration failed dismally to improve the performance of NHE both financially and operationally. Due to their actions, the entire employees are negatively affected and have not received any salary adjustments for the past three years, while the cost of living rises on a daily basis," employees said in a petition addressed to Shivute.
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