NBC bleeds N$10 million in workers’ strike

The Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) yesterday informed the parliamentary standing committee on human resources and community development that it lost about N$10 million in potential revenue during an employee strike two years ago.

The NBC’s management defended hefty deductions from employees’ salaries instuted by the no work, no pay rule, saying this was mutually agreed on by the company and its striking workers.

In 2021, at least 600 NBC employees went on a nationwide strike, demanding an 8% salary increment and for all workers on one-month contracts to be employed on a full-time basis.

The no work, no pay rule led to the workers having to repay the NBC for the time they spent striking.

During a consultative meeting, NBC director general Stanley Similo said the events should be viewed in context.

“Amounts were not just deducted. They were told this is how it was going to work, and there was continuous communication to make sure people understood in that regard, to the extent that the process was also audited by an external auditor, to make sure that whatever was legally agreed upon was not outside what was contained in the agreement,” he said.

“There was an agreement in place that should the strike continue, the no work, no pay rule would apply.

“During and after the strike it was not an easy environment,” he said.

Similo said the matter should not be viewed in isolation.

“I can assure you that everything was above board in terms of where we needed to be. The organisation did not act outside of what was agreed on. There was an agreement,” he said.

NBC spokesperson Nico Mwiya said the public broadcaster lost around N$10 million, excluding ‘goodwill’, due to the strike.
“We sell air time to different clients within our segment. These are agencies from South Africa, and they book campaigns for the whole year.

“So, within the period of the strike most of the air time they bought could not be adhered to.

“Therefore, there was a ripple effect after that, and going back to them they were saying ‘can you give assuarance that indeed going foward its going to be sustainable?’,” he said.