By:Justicia Shipena
The Office of the LabourCommissioner says it is experiencing an escalating number of labour disputes on a weekly basis.
In an interview with Eagle FM this week, the deputy LabourCommissionerKyllikkiSihlahla said the rate at which cases are being referred to the Officer of the LabourCommissioner has contributed to the work overload.
“There is a high referral rate of cases to the office on a weekly basis,” Sihlahla revealed.
This comes as the Mineworkers Union of Namibia’s (MUN) blamed the office for the massive resignation of members from the union.
The union has expressed dissatisfaction in the manner in which the office is handling the prevention and resolution of the dispute process.
Sihlahla said there are no costs involved and no consequences in referring disputes, thus unions refer all cases to their office, and do not make a distinction between cases with merits and those without.
She blamed the easy access to the office as the contributing factor to the overload in cases.
“So the ease of access to the Office of the LabourCommissioner has increased the cases that are being referred to us on a weekly basis,” she pointed out.
Sihlahla explained that when a case is referred to their office, it has to go through two processes of conciliation and arbitration.
In terms of conciliation, she said the office is experiencing a low weight of settlement.
“Parties no longer settle disputes as conciliation, and if disputes are not settled, they have to be referred to arbitration,” she added.
As a result, she said there is a gap when the matter is not settled at conciliation and has to be referred to arbitration with the consequence that the next available date for arbitration is far.
She further emphasised that they sometimes experience postponements that are not necessarily occasioned by the arbitrators.
“Parties may agree to postponement and when they postpone the matter, the other cases cannot wait for you to get a date,” she said.
Asked about the claims by MUN of the effects on union members of the long drawn out process to settle labour disputes, Sihlahla said: “Why would that be attributed to the resignation of members from the union. I really do not see the connection because we are dealing with many disputes and not only those of members from MUN.”
According to MUN, the inadequate and continued poor service delivery by the office of the LabourCommissioner continues to hamper the effective and efficient representation of its members.
MUN Regional Coordinator for the Erongo region, George Ampweya, expressed that the adjudication over cases referred to arbitration are continuously being prolonged, issuing of arbitration awards are delayed on periods exceeding six months.
“You find disputes taking time frames of six months, sometimes even three months.”
Ampweyacharged that the conduct by the Office of the LabourCommissioner not only grossly violates the cardinal provisions of law but it continues to threaten the very spirit of orderly collective bargaining processes at the workplace.
“In the absence of a collective bargaining process workers are left vulnerable without representation as a result of the LabourCommissioner not forthcoming,” he said.
Ampweya further claim that employers have realised that there are challenges within the Office of the LabourCommissioner on which they tend to capitalise on.
“With these delays, the employees go back to the union or go to social media and lash out at the trade union that they are ‘useless’ and not rendering the service,” Ampweyasaid.
The unionist told The villager that unions always become the victims, expressing that when the union says there is a threat to the trade union, it means if the Office of the LabourCommissioner continues with the current trend, it sees the absolute dissolution of all trade unions within the country.
He said his union continues to record significant numbers of resignations of its members as a result of inexplicable delays and the manner in which cases are dealt with by the Office of the LabourCommissioner.
He said they started experiencing problems of members resigning from the union in 2019.
“So why pay your union fees when services are not delivered, members argue. So that debate comes up frequently and unfortunately members are frustrated but it is not because of the poor performance of the union, but it is because Office of the LabourCommissioner is not forthcoming,” he stressed.
He said the current labour unrest in the country is provoked by these types of disservices not only to our members but to the public at large.
He charged that union members are consistently subjected to unprofessional and, at times, intimidation and harassment by labourofficials at the Swakopmund offices.
Ampweya said MUNhas called on the Minister responsible for LabourCommissioner office, the Ombudsman office, and relevant oversight authorities to intervene speedily and decisively in this regard.
“The further non-compliance by the Office of the LabourCommissioners will force the union to approach a competent court of law to ascertain compliance to the regulations that govern these processes,” he added.
Labour Commissioner’s Office Laments Overflowing Dispute Cases
