NBC offers 6% salary increment

• FLORIAN DECKERSTHE Namibian Broadcasting Corporation has offered its workers a 6% salary increase, instead of the 8% they wanted.

By yesterday afternoon, The Namibian understands that the Namibia Public Workers Union (Napwu) had not accepted the offer, and was still negotiating with management.

A Napwu member, Samuel Kandjii, confirmed this yesterday. The offer comes after a countrywide demonstration that saw workers threatening a strike if the corporation refused to accept their demand. NBC marketing officer and also a union member, Toucy Tjijombo, likewise confirmed the offer, although she could not comment further because negotiations are still ongoing.

The Namibian reported last week that NBC board chairperson Sven Thieme showed willingness to grant the salary increase, depending on the availability of funds.

At the same time, he said his first priority was to guarantee the continued operations of NBC, despite the tasks of changing from analogue to digital, ensuring that all regions get access to information, and coping with the reduction of government`s subsidies.

In an official statement yesterday, NBC human resources manager Vezenga Kauraisa thanked the workers for their patience.

“It is unfortunate that the implementation of the salary increase is taking longer than expected,” he said, adding that there are problems with funding.

Kauraisa said the company’s revenue model was revised during the salary negotiating process with the union leaders.

Although he described this as a “milestone”, he asked for time to implement the changes and create new revenue streams.