An exploratory study of the effectiveness of the Namibia Public Workers Union (NAPWU) as a collective bargaining unit for workers in the civil service: A case study of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC)
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Date
2015
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Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
Workers, individually, are too weak and not capable of having their demands met at their workplaces hence the need for a union to take advantage of the power that comes with unity and collectivism. This being the case, one recognizes as many would, the need of an effective collective bargaining unit. Namibia Public Workers Union (NAPWU) is one of the largest trade unions which recruits its members from the, public service and parastatals. Its effectiveness in representing its members is of major importance in order to avoid labor unrest which may lead to poor service delivery to the public. Therefore this paper explores the effectiveness of NAPWU as a collective bargaining unit for its members who are employed at Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). A mixed methods approach is used in the study where interviews and questionnaires are employed to obtain data from the respondents. Respondents were grouped as follows; employees at NBC who are
members of NAPWU, NBC management and a shop steward. From these groups was then the data drawn. The major findings reveal that the majority of NAPWU members believe that their union has little or no influence at all when it comes to the working conditions of its members. They feel not secured, as management could act as the deem right and encounters no resistance from the union
and the widely held opinion by NAPWU members at NBC was that there is poor accountability of the union to its members to the extent that some members felt that their union was conniving with the management against them. Though the above mentioned problems exist, NAPWU through its shop stewards assisted its members in the area of legal aid by supporting them in cases of conflicts among employees, or other individual problems faced with their immediate supervisors. The outcome of the research indicates that NAPWU should adopt “Servicing”, as well as “Organizing” models of union representation and to let these two complement each other. This will prevent a “them” and “us” relationship between the union and its members, which currently is prevailing there and affecting the collectivism approach
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Public Administration
Keywords
NAPWU, Civil service, Collective bargaining