Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations, and Employment Creation says it has observed a trend by companies to fire experienced security guards to avoid salary hikes.
Acting Executive Director, Balbina Pienaar says some companies are getting rid of such personnel for no apparent reason and recruiting new ones at a low salary scale.
According to the Collective Agreement in Security Industry, security officers at the entry level are remunerated a minimum wage of N$8.75 per hour while those that have been in employment with the same employer are entitled to a minimum wage of N$10 per hour.
This comes after the minister Utoni Nujoma, recently expressed concern about a persistent violation of the relevant provisions of the Labour Act and the Collective Agreement for Minimum Wages in the Security Industry.
According to Pienaar, the Ministry’s records show that most labour related complaints that are being attended to, have to do with issues of employers not paying severance pay, unfair dismissals, unpaid remuneration (not on time as per the agreement and/or not at all), and unlawful deductions among others.
Meanwhile, the Founding President of the Security Association of Namibia SAN, Hans Miljo expressed his concern of the absence of a Regulatory Framework in the Security Industry,
which according to him needs to be finalized in order to help enhance compliance within the industry.
According to him, most employers in the Security Industry operate from nowhere and in most
cases disappear pay time, leaving the workers not knowing what to do next.
He therefore appealed to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security to finalize the promulgation of the regulations.
