By: Hertha Ekandjo
The Youth Security Services (YSS), operating under the auspices of the National Youth Service (NYC), on Tuesday signed an agreement to settle a wage dispute between the company and its workers after workers complained of not receiving a salary increment for eight consecutive years.
YSS previously refused to increase its security guards’ wages from N$8 per hour to the government gazetted N$10 per hour for its security guards across the country.
The guards, earlier this month, accused the company of owing 178 security guards a total of N$3 million for the financial year of 2017/18.
Eino Amwaalwa, the manager at YSS, admitted to the allegations, stating that the company owes the guards N$3 million and that they have resolved the issue with the employees.
Hence, he said the company has now decided to pay what was owed to the security guards.
“Yes, I am aware of the case, and this case was addressed. There was an arbitration award from the office of the labour commissioner, and writ of execution was also issued against the company,” he said.
According to Amwaalwa, a court sheriff confiscated one of the company’s vehicles this Tuesday.
“We will pay their money because the directive came from the labour commissioner’s office. So we have resolved that issue. The complainants reach an agreement with the company,” he told The Villager.
Moreover, he mentioned that the company has decided to increase employee wages from N$8 to N$10.
“There was a time when they refused what was offered to them by the company, which almost led to the company closing down,” Amwaalwa explained.
Two YSS security guards who spoke on conditions of anonymity last week told The Villager that they were agitated and disappointed by the company.
The employees say some have worked for YSS since 2015 and, to date, haven’t received any wage increment.
“We won a case against the company at the High Court in 2017, but still, the company refused to pay us our full wages. They also didn’t want to pay us the money that the government gazetted that a new person in the company should be paid N$8 and an old employee N$10 per hour,” the employees disappointedly said.
They added that as employees with over ten years of working experience, YSS paid them N$7 per hour while demanding that the N$3 million owed to them should be settled.
Another employee commonly known as ‘Petrus’ accused leaders within the company of being ignorant and prideful.
“The leaders in our company think that they are above the law. They told us before that they would not increase our minimum wage until the government gazetted it, but after the government gazetted the minimum wage of N$10 per hour, they still refused to increase our wages,” he said.
Additionally, the workers said the High Court confiscated two buses from YSS in 2017 as punishment to the company.
The employees also claimed that YSS commissioner Felix Musukubili threatened to fire every employee who continued demanding a wage increment.
Furthermore, they alleged that Musukubili told them that he didn’t care whether the buses confiscated by the sheriff were to be sold.
“He said that the total cost of those buses won’t even add up to what the company owed us. He said it would probably cost a few hundred thousand, which was nothing compared to N$3 that was owed to us.”
