Namibia - 2011

Population: 2,200,000
Capital: Windhoek
Strong concern was expressed about workers’ rights in Chinese owned construction companies. A food workers’ union accused a retail chain of bargaining in bad faith and had its recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. agreement terminated. Although basic trade union rights are secured, excessive restrictions apply to the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike .
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)

reported violations - 2011

Murders: none reported
Attempted Murders: none reported
Threats: none reported
Injuries: none reported
Arrests: none reported
Imprisonments: none reported
Dismissals: none reported
Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Background

The country remained politically and economically stable. President Pohamba of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) continued a second term in office, cementing his reputation as a consensus builder. The country ranks 105 out of 169 countries, with a Human Development Index of 0.606, placing it well above the regional average. The HIV/AIDS epidemic, however, is estimated to affect 25% of Namibians.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 2,200,000
Capital: Windhoek

reported violations- 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Trade union rights in law

Problems remain in the labour legislation despite recent improvements. The Constitution and the 2007 Labour Act guarantee freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework , but exclude prison staff. In addition, the Labour Commissioner may cancel the registration of a trade union if it fails to comply with its legal obligations, although the decision may be appealed in court.

Furthermore, the right to bargain collectively is recognised for registered trade unions that represent the majority of the employees in a bargaining unit bargaining unit A group of workers within a particular company, establishment, industry or occupation that constitutes an appropriate unit for the purpose of collective bargaining.

See bargaining agent
. Finally, the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike is limited, as strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike action can only be initiated in disputes that involve specific workers’ interests, such as pay rises. Strikes are also subject to a long conciliation conciliation An attempt by a neutral third party, a conciliator, to aid the settling of an industrial dispute by improving communications, offering advice and interpreting issues to bring the disputing parties to a point where they can reconcile their differences. The conciliator does not take as active a role as a mediator or an arbitrator.

See arbitration, mediation procedure. Disputes over workers’ rights, including dismissals, must be referred to the Labour Court for arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation , and the dispute solving mechanisms are long and cumbersome.

Additional information regarding the legislation
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 2,200,000
Capital: Windhoek

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

In practice

Union marginalised: At a press conference in June 2010 Mahongora Kavihuha, secretary general of the Trade Union Congress of Namibia (TUCNA), stated that the relationship between the union and government was hostile and that it was difficult to access ministers.
Employer hostility: Employers have a history of being generally very hostile towards the unions, refusing to recognise them or let them carry out their activities in workplaces, or to engage in collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
with them. This tendency has been particularly prevalent in the export processing zones (EPZ export processing zone A special industrial area in a country where imported materials are processed before being re-exported. Designed to attract mostly foreign investors by offering incentives such as exemptions from certain trade barriers, taxes, business regulations, and/or labour laws. ). The categories most vulnerable to trade union rights’ violations are farm and domestic workers.
Workers concerned for their rights: At a conference organised by the Metal and Allied Namibian Workers Union (MANWU) on 23 and 24 August 2010 workers expressed strong concerns about Chinese construction companies who regularly ignored workers’ rights and the country’s labour laws. Between 60% and 70% of construction tenders are awarded to Chinese companies.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 2,200,000
Capital: Windhoek

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Violations

Bad faith bargaining:

In December the Namibian Food and Allied Workers’ Union (NAFAU) found itself in dispute with Shoprite Checkers over what the union termed “slavery working conditions and exploitation of workers”. Tensions were further heightened by the deadlock in negotiations for annual wage increments, with NAFAU feeling that the company started off negotiations in bad faith. The Labour Commission granted the negotiations a certificate of unresolved dispute. Shoprite terminated the recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. agreement with NAFAU saying the union did not have majority members.

NAFAU had rejected a pay offer from the retail chain that fell well below its demands. The union also asked Shoprite Checkers to address long-standing employment conditions of housing and transport allowance and the issue of employing people as casual workers for a period of more than two years.

Unfair dismissal ruling – company avoiding reinstatement: A labour arbitrator with the Ministry of Labour ruled on 20 October that the dismissal of 156 workers by the mining company Purity Manganese, following a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike in July 2009, was unfair. The company was ordered to reinstate the workers to their former posts by 3 January 2011 and to pay each of them the equivalent of a year’s salary. The company lodged an appeal against the ruling and there had been no reinstatements or compensation paid by the end of the year.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 2,200,000
Capital: Windhoek

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher
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