RUNDU – Construction industry workers in Kavango West and Kavango East are complaining of employers not paying the agreed minimum wage for the construction industry.
The Metal and Allied Namibian Workers Union (Manwu) regional branch organiser Richard Matengu said the union has received complaints of construction workers not being paid the minimum wage as stipulated by and agreed on by the Construction Industries Federation of Namibia (CIF), the Labour Commissioner and Manwu.
“I have received complaints of workers being underpaid and not being offered fair transport and as a union we have to act on that,” Matengu said, adding that it was “not good” for employers to ignore the official agreement that was gazetted by government.
“Construction is the vision of this country in terms of Vision 2030. To reach the objectives of this vision we need workers in the construction industry no matter how illiterate they are as long as they can do the job, and they need to be taken care of by their employers, not to be transported in tipper trucks and other open vehicles which in the end result in sickness. If you look in their health passports you will find the reason they are always on sick leave is because of flu,” added Matengu.
The minimum wage for construction workers is categorised, e.g. a labourer should get a minimum of N$12.11 per hour, however that’s not the case in Kavango West and East, according to Matengu.
Matengu urged all construction companies in the two regions to comply with the agreed minimum wage and that they should be ready for an inspection soon to be carried out by the union together with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare.
By John Muyamba