Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Namibia (Ratification: 1995)

The Committee notes the 2011 observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), as well as those received on 1 September 2014.

Articles 1 and 4 of the Convention. Protection against anti-union discrimination and promotion of collective bargaining in export processing zones (EPZs). In its previous observation, the Committee had requested the Government to provide comments on the observations of the ITUC concerning difficulties in the application of the provisions of the Convention in EPZs. The Committee notes that the Government indicates that the exclusion of EPZs from certain regulations relating to conditions of employment was abolished, as it had discovered that workers in EPZs were subjected to unsafe working conditions, low wages, high work intensity and suppression of labour rights. In that context, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the steps that it is taking to ensure the full application of the Convention in EPZs in practice, in particular by promoting collective bargaining and effective protection against anti-union discrimination.

Article 6. Rights of prison staff. In its previous observation, the Committee had expressed the hope that guarantees under the Convention would be extended to the prisons services through the adoption of the new Labour Act in the near future. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that new legislation has not been tabled to Cabinet and that a proposal was made in August 2014 for a tripartite meeting to include the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, the Minister of Prison Services and a union representative supported by ILO technical assistance, to discuss ways to resolve this matter. The Committee trusts that the Government will take steps to ensure that the prison services enjoy the guarantees under the Convention in the near future, and requests the Government to provide information on developments in relation to the adoption of new legislation in this regard.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.