Unions must be ‘creative, visible’

Jo-Maré Duddy - Trade unions have hardly been able to push for a forward-looking agenda in terms of the creation of new jobs and securing livelihoods in the months and years to come, veteran and independent labour expert, Herbert Jauch, says.“This will certainly have to happen for unions to be able to advance the best interests of workers,” Jauch, a labour researcher and educator, says.Namibia’s latest official figures on unemployment date back to 2018. Then the unemployment rate was 34% with the vast majority of the employed earning below N$5 000 per month.Based on sectoral employment patterns, Jauch estimates that Namibia now has an unemployment rate of 45% to 50%, a figure which is “likely to rise even further in the months to come”.“One also needs to keep in mind that about 40 000 to 50 000 new labour market entrants from schools, universities, vocational training centres etc. enter the labour market annually in search for jobs. This contributes further to the escalation of the unemployment rate,” Jauch adds.According to him, unions’ prevention of retrenchments was a necessary and important intervention as the lockdown and impact of Covid-19 was the final nail the economy.“But now the unions will have to play a creative and visible role in the process of economic reconstruction which must focus on creating a society and economy that is better than Namibia before the crisis,” Jauch says.Social partnershipAsked to comment on the relationship between government, employers and unions, Jauch responds: “The notion of social partnership between business, labour and government was an ideological construct more than a lived reality already before the Covid crisis.” “Although the three parties regularly meet in the tripartite Labour Advisory Council and seem to work with each other in a polite atmosphere, there are some fundamental differences of interests which are difficult to bridge,” Jauch says. According to him, these differences came to the fore during the Covid crisis as many employers resorted to retrenchments and forced leave to reduce their wage bill. This was often dome without the extensive negotiations with unions and workers as envisaged in the Labour Act, Jauch maintains. “Trade unions have been on the defensive throughout the crisis and most of their time has been spent on dealing with unfair labour practices and with retrenchments. As membership-based and driven organisations this is certainly part of what can be termed ‘bread and butter issues’.” Jauch is of the opinion that, administratively, the Office of the Labour Commissioner seemed unable to track retrenchments and ensure that the legal provisions are followed. The High Court recently declared regulations by the labour ministry, aimed at banning dismissals, salary cuts and forced leave during the lockdown period unconstitutional and invalid. The Namibia Employers Federation, the Namibia Employers' Association and five private companies in the safari, aviation, transport and printing industry on 29 May brought the urgent application before court.Jauch expects the court case is “likely to increase tensions between employers and unions”.Government’s moveJauch says in terms of the notion of social partnership, government understood its role in labour relations as that of a “referee” between the interests of business and labour. “However, there is a huge power imbalance between these two parties and thus government has to do more to create a more level playing field,” he says. Government tried to balance this obligation with its desire to attract private investments and thus government has been very careful in its approach, Jauch elaborates.“Regulation 19 was one of the few attempts to decisively step in to protect workers during the crisis and it is deeply regrettable that the High Court has deemed this regulation to be unconstitutional and thus invalid.” According to Jauch, government will now need to devise other strategies to protect workers within the framework of tripartite consultations as implemented since independence. “It remains to be seen if this can result in a substantive protection of jobs and workers incomes,” he adds.Employers’ approachSome employers have taken steps to safeguard employment and some decided to first cut management packages before considering wage reductions for workers, Jauch says. “This is a socially responsible and commendable approach,” he says. Most employers, however, seem to have resorted to retrenchments and forced leave very quickly before considering alternative options, he adds. “There is no doubt that smaller businesses in particular are faced with immediate cash flow problems due to the crisis and are forced with very difficult decisions regarding the retention of staff. “Thus a case by case assessment might be required but there needs to be consensus that retrenchments must be the very last option,” Jauch emphasises.He believes the court case filed by some employers doesn’t reflect this attitude. “They have clearly displayed the attitude that they are merely concerned about their businesses’ profitability while showing little concern for workers survival,” Jauch comments.He points out that there is not any unemployment insurance in Namibia currently.“Retrenchments mean an immediate slide into poverty for workers and their families. This is something that employers have to consider,” Jauch says.Ensuring new jobsJauch says he worked with government, unions and employers on the question of job creation in various sectors of the economy a few years ago. “Some ideas were incorporated into the national employment policy of 2013, but it seems that the implementation by government and the private sector was rather poor and thus the needed number of new jobs was not achieved, resulting in continuously high levels of unemployment.” The Covid crisis has deepened this problem. “It has shown that we need to focus decisively on a few sectors with huge potential for local production and value addition as well as greater self-sufficiency,” Jauch says. “These sectors include food production and processing, e.g. jams, juices, tinned fruit and vegetables etc. The interventions by the Agricultural Board to increase fresh produce in Namibian shops in past years has shown that such interventions can be very successful,” he continues. Another sector offering employment is housing, “where value chains can be created to produce virtually all inputs needed to construct houses inside Namibia”. “With a massive backlog of houses, this could become the driving economic sector in the years to come,” Jauch says. The energy sector with a focus on renewables such as solar energy which can be decentralised across Namibia and the conversion of bush biomass or invader bush into energy on a large scale must become key focus areas to create thousands of new jobs, he continues. “Invader bush biomass can also be utilised to manufacture school furniture as demonstrated by the editor of the Republikein to me more than 10 years ago. These are the kind of interventions that we urgently need to create jobs,” Jauch concludes.

Unions must be ‘creative, visible’

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Republikein 2025-06-17

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