WALVIS BAY - An increase in labour disputes have been recorded with at least 1358 cases being filed at the Office of the Labour Commissioner for the past three months.

This was said by the Deputy Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation Tommy Nambahu in a speech read on his behalf by the ministry’s Executive Director Bro-Mathew Shinguadja at the May Day commemorations held in Walvis Bay on Wednesday.

He says although analysis of statistical data gleaned from the affirmative action reports received from employers of all sectors, indicate that there has been an encouraging improvement in the representation of persons in designated group at the three top-most occupational levels, the workers, still face challenges as far as equity at the workplace is concerned.
According to Nambahu, conciliation of disputes remains by far the most preferred method of resolving disputes reported with an overall 76 percent success rate with successful arbitration of disputes accounting for the remaining 24 percent.
Apart from that, at least 514 employees from 65 companies, mainly from the construction industry were retrenched during the past three months in the country.

He explained these statistics were recorded by the commission as the Labour Act, 2007 requires employers to notify the Labour Commissioner of any development or retrenchments in the country.

“In ensuring compliance with the legal provisions, such as salary payments; overtime; leave days; severance payments, among others, the labour inspectorate recovered an amount of N$766 290 on behalf of employees,” he explained.
In respect of occupational safety and health at the workplace, is rather disappointing, as accidents at workplaces increased compared to previous quarters. He says at least six accidents were recorded in this quarter alone.

Also sharing employment figures during the commemorations, Nambahu indicated that persons in designated groups, such as racially disadvantaged, women and persons with disabilities still needs to improve.

He says these designated groups, currently comprises about 97 percent of employees across all economic sectors employed by relevant employers.

“Black employees only occupies about 63 percent of managerial positions. This is despite the fact that, black employees are 95 percent of the workforce covered,” he said.

He explained only 40 percent of women are in managerial positions. 
“What is of serious concern is the fact that, only about 0, 6 percent of managers are persons with disabilities. The apparent under representation of persons with disabilities at almost every level of employment, currently stands at 0, 4 percent,” he said.