Government-owned tourism and hospitality enterprise, Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR), and Namibia Public Workers Union (NAPWU) on Friday agreed a wage increment for all employees.
According to the latest agreement, employees in the A grade category will receive a 13% increment followed by B grade with 7%, C grade 4.6% and D grade 2.5%.
“The negotiations for the Financial Year 2022/2023 were finalised on 21 November 2022. The Parties agreed that transport allowance for the qualifying job grades in the bargaining unit who are working in municipal areas and are not provided with official transport to the workplace will increase by N$222 to N$650 per month,” said NWR Spokesperson Nelson Ashipala.
“The parties further agreed to increase housing allowance for the qualifying job grades A- C in the bargaining unit by between N$35 to N$42.
Grades A and B got an increase from N$1 295 to N$1,330.00 per month, and C grade from N$1,808 to N$1,850.
“Of course, discussions like these could not be easy. As you may all be aware, the world just came from a Covid-19 storm. In fact, we, in the tourism industry, are still feeling the effects. Why make such financial commitments when tourism is still reeling from the pandemic? Firstly, the employees that carried us through the Covid-19 storm do need some form of financial relief.
“We should remember that our staff members were forced to take salary cuts during the pandemic. On top of this, benefits such as overtime and travelling allowance were put on hold. We had to bring in strong control measures such as staff rotation, which put immense strain and fatigue on our employees,” added Ashipala.
In addition, he said staff members that were promoted were not being paid as per their new grades.
Whereas the voluntary separation exercise did not make the situation any better.
“Secondly, the cost of living has gone up two folds since NWR’s last salary increment, which was in 2019. The current annual inflation rate stands at 7.1%, while the annual inflation rate for goods is estimated at 9.7%. As it stands, the twelve-month average yearly inflation rate from November 2021 to October 2022 was estimated at 5.6 percent. Not only has life become costly, but it has also created a financial strain on our staff.”
“Our employee’s hard work and understanding as we navigated these troubled times is something we here at NWR are proud of,” he stressed.
