Unions blast 5% pay rise as ‘meaningless’, threaten legal action

Public sector unions have slammed the recently announced 5% salary increase for civil servants, calling it “meaningless” and pledging legal action alongside a national day of protest.

Unions say the raise leaves some employees worse off once higher taxes and increased medical aid contributions are considered.

Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, Mahongora Kavihuha, secretary general of the Teachers Union of Namibia (TUN), said the increase will effectively be wiped out, adding that the move reflects unilateral changes to employment conditions.

"Because the 5% will push you into a higher tax bracket, it means that your tax will increase,” he said.

“If I end up with a minus 60 of my take-home, was that a salary increment?… There was no salary increment. Nothing. Zero.”

Kavihuha accused negotiating teams of agreeing to terms that disadvantage workers.

“We found this to be very, very, very unhelpful. And we are going to work on it and see how best we can redress that phenomenon that emanated from this agreement?"

He also criticised a presidential directive requiring public servants to seek treatment at public health facilities, describing it as a "direct attack on the basic conditions of employment".

He added that decisions affecting civil servants are increasingly being implemented through directives rather than consultation.

Official steps

Ndjizuvee Haakuria, secretary general of the Public Service Union of Namibia (PSUN), questioned the authority of the president and the health minister to dictate how employees’ medical aid contributions are spent.

The unions announced plans to invoke Section 51(1) of the Labour Act and to file an official dispute with the labour commissioner.

“We are going to engage in an economic national day of action for all public servants,” Kavihuha said, adding that further details would be communicated within 14 days. “We are going to take them to the labour commission to report and register an official labour dispute because they have bargained in bad faith completely,” he said.

Haakuria argued that the recognised bargaining unions had met the threshold for unfair labour practice under Section 49 of the Labour Act. “If you bargain and then, at the end of the bargain, your members get a negative salary increment, it means you are bargaining in bad faith. Can’t be good faith,” he said.

On the employer’s side, he cited Section 50(1)(e), which prohibits unilateral alteration of employment conditions. “For the government to decide that our members cannot enjoy the right to choose… and they are confined to state hospitals – worst of all, as of 1 April, without engaging in social dialogue – it meets the standard… They have changed a condition of employment, unilaterally,” he said.

Contacted for comment, Loide Shaanika of the Namibia National Teachers Union (Nantu) dismissed the criticism from Kavihuha’s camp. “Unfortunately, we do not negotiate for Kavihuha and his members,” Shaanika said. “I would be in a better position to clarify in detail should this have come from our members.”

The unions warned that failure to halt the directive could set a precedent for further unilateral decisions. “If you don’t put a stop to it today… that’s how it starts,” Kavihuha cautioned. “We have the muscles, we have the energy, and we have a mandate to stop it.”