Catherine Sasman
6 October 2008
Windhoek — The Namibia Airports Company (NAC) and the Namibia Public Workers Union (Napwu) reached an agreement on Thursday evening, in an eleventh-hour attempt to avert a potentially damaging strike by workers at Namibia's airports.
The NAC assured airport operators and users that all its operations and activities would function as usual, as the threatened strike would no longer take place.
The agreement was reached after workers vowed to go on strike should their demands for market-related salary increases and a 20 percent yearly interest from June 2003 to August 31 this year not be implemented by Thursday.
In a joint communiqué, the NAC and Napwu said that market-related salaries for employees in Grade A1 to D1 [using the Paterson grading system in use in all State-Owned Enterprises] will be fully implemented from September and that the payment of market-related salary adjustments be back-dated for 30 months (from March 2006 to August 2008).
According to the agreement, for workers in the A1 to D1 grades back payments for 30 months will be paid on or before October 10 and the adjusted salaries for these employees will be reflected on their payslips for October.
A November 2006 survey showed that the NAC's salary ranges for grades A1 to C5 were 20.3 percent lower than market benchmarks, while as for D1 to E2 grades salaries were 12.56 percent lower than those of other SOEs.
A proposal was then directed to the former Minister of Works, Transport and Communication that salary scales for job grades A1 to C5 as well as D1 to E2 be adjusted accordingly.
"We are happy with the agreement," said an NAC worker anonymously. "We have waited long enough."
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