Staff Reporter
THE nationwide civil servants strike has been called off after an agreement on salary increases between the government and unions.
The union singled out the leadership of President Hage Geingob who cancelled his official international travels to tend to the issue to avert the strike which threatened economic stability.
The Secretary General of the Namibia Public Worker Union (NAPWU), Petrus Nevongo explained that the trade unions, and the government reached an agreement to increase civil servant salaries by 3% across the board alongside other benefits after government upscaled its offer to civil servants from N$ 344 million to N$ 924 million.
Speaking at the occasion, Nevongo conferred his appreciation to president Geingob in resolving the dispute and added that governments previous offer before the deadlock was not enough to relief civil servants from the high costs of living.
“What is important is that through our engagements, government was able to reconsider its position and therefore it increased its offer from N$344 million to N$924 million to attend to the plight of the civil servants,” Nevongo said.
He added that the unions will give a basic salary increment of 3% of civil across the board, an 11% increment for housing allowance of civil servants below management level and a 14% increment on transport allowance for all civil servants.
“The total combined costs amount to N$ 924 million in total. The difference is a close to N$ 600 million. It is an amount which was increased followed by serious efforts and leadership provided by President Geingob which culminated us in reaching an agreement. The agreement will come into effect 1 April 2022. The increments will be back dated to this date. This signing means that the dispute has been resolved,” Nevongo said.
The secretary general added that the two unions of NAPWU and NANTU are recognised by the government and represent the civil servants in terms of the recognition agreements. The agreements make for provision for the establishment of the negotiation teams.
“First of all, there is one thing that I want to remark on behalf of the two unions. We want to say our appreciation, your presence here means a lot to us, comrade President. It means a lot to us as Namibian workers. As the father of the nation who observed the tense situation, you cancelled your trips to provide leadership and you have indeed provided leadership,”. Nevongo said.
