TransNamib unable to meet wage increment demands

TransNamib management said the company is currently unable to meet any wage increases due to its welldocumented weak financial position.

TransNamib stated this when responding to a statement issued by the Namibia Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Natau) on 21 December 2020 airing grievances of its members, including salary increments, performance management system policy and wage negotiation disputes.

In a statement availed to Nampa, Trans Nam ibex plained that its financial status was recently exacerbated by the devastation of the company’s revenue by more than 50% during the lockdown period of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company also said that Natau’s statement is based on information that was bandied around on social media through nameless and faceless anonymous letters against TransNamib management earlier in 2020.

“It would therefore appear that, based on the illegitimate and false information gathered from equally dubious sources in the hands of Natau, the union is willing to risk a previously very stable relationship with TransNamib management by continuing to demand wage increments that the company has been at pains to express on so many occasions it simply is not in a financial position to meet,” the statement reads.

Natau secretary general John Kwedhi told Nampa on Tuesday that everything alluded to in their statement is a fact and that they will not shy away from defending their members.

“We have lost our confidence in the management of TransNamib because they are not doing what they are supposed to do. Our relationship has been there even before this management. They did not build this relationship. We only renewed our recognition agreement,” Kwedhi said.

Kwedhi also alleged that TransNamib has not paid its employees overtime and that management bullies those who enquire about overtime payments.

“They alleged that they approached the union to negotiate on performance management but they started employing these people in 2018; they only approached us in October 2020. We told them that we are not going to engage in such things at that point in time while we already have a subject on the table. It does not help to bully workers because of their failure. Natau is determined and we can go to the extent of withdrawing our labour. Management must just know that when we address issues such as this, it is because we want the company to continue contributing to the economy of this country,” said Kwedhi. – Nampa