Staff Reporter<\/p>\n
THE Namibia Employers\u2019 Federation (NEF) and the Namibia Employers Association (NEA) have rejected the actions of the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) and Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, calling the demands and protests political interference in labour matters.<\/p>\n
In a mass protest today, the NEFF and AR handed in petitions against the importation of counterfeit goods by Chinese and Indian nationals and especially demanded the closure of all Chinese retailers, saying the \u201cregime\u201d (Namibian Government) protects the interests of these foreign nationals, as well as Indians, at the expense of Namibians.<\/p>\n
The demonstrations started at China Town, and from there moved to the Ministry of Trade and Industrialization, and the Namibia Revenue Agency. The protestors did not as intended go to the Chinese Embassy.<\/p>\n
The full statement, signed by secretary-generals Daan Strauss (NEF) and Henry Bruwer (NEA):<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Namibia Employers\u2019 Federation (NEF) and the Namibia Employers Association (NEA), reject the recent interference by political parties in labour matters in the strongest terms.
\nRecent political interference disrupted labour relations at a number of Namibian businesses.<\/p>\n
The Namibian Labour Act (Act no 11 of 2007) is very clear on the representation of workers with regard to labour matters. Chapter 6 of the Act deals with trade unions and employers\u2019 organisations and their rights and requirements for registration.
\nThis means that any trade union or employers\u2019 organisation needs to be registered in terms of the Act. Furthermore, any Workers\u2019 Union or Employers\u2019<\/p>\n
Organizations need to prove that they actually have a proven membership base, representing their members.<\/p>\n
This falls outside of the political arena and political parties simply do not have the mandate to act on behalf of workers in terms of labour matters.<\/p>\n
Although some employees have complained to political parties about their problems at the workplace and about the poor quality of service provided by certain Unions,
\nEmployers should not engage with political parties on labour-related matters.<\/p>\n
Employers should refer political parties to the Office of the Labour Commissioner or the Labour Act which dictate that registered Unions should deal with industrial relations issues.<\/p>\n
In South Africa, in an interesting judgment delivered during June 2021, by the South African Labour Court in a case of a South African trading company vs The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) & others, the Labour Court ordered that the EFF be interdicted and restrained from, inter alia, unlawfully interfering with the business operations of the Company.<\/p>\n
The Labour Court found, inter alia, that the EFF is not a registered trade union and thus has no authority to get involved in workplace disputes.<\/p>\n
After considering all the evidence the Court found that the Company was entitled to their order interdicting the EFF and the employees from carrying out the unlawful conduct complained of in the urgent application.<\/p>\n
The Court also found that as a result of the conduct of the EFF and its members at the Company premises, the Company should not be left out of pocket in taking steps to prevent and contain the unlawful conduct of the EFF and its members.<\/p>\n
Accordingly, the EFF was required to pay the costs of the urgent application.<\/p>\n
This judgment should be viewed as a warning to any political party who attempts to unlawfully interfere with internal workplace disputes and employees should be advised that political parties are not entitled to assume the functions of a Union.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Staff Reporter THE Namibia Employers\u2019 Federation (NEF) and the Namibia Employers Association (NEA) have rejected the actions of the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) and Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, calling the demands and protests political interference in labour matters. In a mass protest today, the NEFF and AR handed in petitions against the importation of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":319736,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n