By Kuzeeko Tjitemisa
WINDHOEK – Namibia Fuel and Allied Workers Union (NAFAWU) Secretary General, David Frans, has urged service station owners to start complying with the minimum wage agreement signed late last year.
The Association of Service Station Owners (ASSO), NAFAWU, Metal and Allied Namibian Workers’ Union (MANWU), Namibia Wholesale and Retail Workers’ Union (NWRWU), Mineworkers’ Union of Namibia (MUN), and the Namibia Food and Allied Workers’ Union (NAFAU) signed a minimum wage agreement of N$7.20 per hour and 45 hours a week starting on January 1, 2015. That excludes Sundays, overtime and public holidays.
The agreement followed last year’s countrywide strike by petrol attendants that lasted over four days.
Speaking to New Era yesterday, Frans said, “We urge ASSO members and service station owners nationwide to be reasonable and act in good faith by fully complying with the collective agreement for the minimum wage in fuel retail industry signed last year.”
He said the main objective of the minimum wage is to improve the living standards of employees and prevent exploitation of employees given the historical pay disparities among different service stations.
Although the agreement has not yet been gazetted, Frans urged employers not to hide behind the legal status of the agreement.
“If we find out that there are service stations not complying with the minimum wage agreement, we will make sure that offenders back pay the employees,” he said.
Furthermore, Frans says the union will continue to engage employers on benefit and full implementation of health and safety at workplaces to avoid loss of lives.
“We have been losing members due to inhalation of petrol fumes, therefore we are pleading with government to look into this matter with the urgency it deserves,” he says.
“Since employees cannot afford proper medical check-ups due to financial reason, employees end up being sick and this let to retrenchment,” he added.
He further assured members that current minimum wage was just an entry level and the union will continue to fight tooth and nail with employers to negotiate market related salaries.
“We call upon all our members to continue in supporting the union,” he stresses.
Frans further warn employers to stop intimidating workers who want to join unions, ”Is the constitutional right of every worker to belong to the union, so stop intimidating workers,” he warns.