Municipal employees protest against biased wages

SWAKOPMUND – The biased and unfair salary structure and the reluctance of the municipality and Swakopmund council to solve the problem gave rise to a peaceful demonstration yesterday at lunchtime in Swakopmund.

Approximately 400 municipal employees, including municipal traffic officers and firefighters, submitted a petition accusing management of disregarding the asymmetrical pay structure and the annual increase that had resulted in a stalemate.

The unfair pay structure according to the workers is the main bone of contention as employees of the lower and middle structures return home with merged wages, while the municipality was at the same level as the municipality of Walvis Bay.

Speaking on behalf of the employees, Uanjenguaije Tjiuvutue, the chairman of the Workers' Representatives Committee said the management was gaining about 0.5% less than its counterparts in the Walvis Bay municipality and executives were 20% less than their counterparts in Walvis Bay.

According to Tjiuvutue, the board is well aware of this skewed salary issue, as they were also affected with respect to their sitting allowances, which went from 100 to 800 Namibian dollars to be on par with the municipalities of Part 1 (municipalities that do not receive government funding)

"We are trying to convince advisors and management of the need for a pay adjustment because of the unfair structure of the pay structure since 2015. They have been reluctant or insulting to say it correctly. Our concerns are legitimate and justifiable, "he said. He added that it was important to emphasize that the stalemate on the negotiations further undermined the already depressed staff morale, a result of last year's proposal that was dropped to reflect the municipality's position. They gave council and management seven days to comply, indicating that they would take further action if their demands were not met.

The Chair of the Executive Committee, Errkie Shitana, who received the petition on behalf of the Board, told the staff that they would look into the matter and come back to it in due course.

Eveline de Klerk
2018-11-28 09:39:09 9 hours ago