City extends ward cleaners’ contracts
Workers’ uncertainty addressed with five-year deal
The new contracts include enhanced remuneration and benefits, including pension, medical allowances and social security.
The City of Windhoek (CoW) has extended the contracts of its 556 ward cleaners, offering them a five-year term starting 1 August.This decision, announced by the municipal council on 24 July, comes in response to ongoing concerns and demands from the workers regarding their employment status and conditions.
The extension follows a period of unrest among the cleaners, who had been facing uncertainty as their previous contracts were set to expire on 31 July. The new five-year contracts were introduced to address job security concerns raised by the workers, who had been operating under one-year contracts previously, which were criticised for failing to provide adequate benefits.
According to a statement by municipality CEO Moses Matyayi, the new contracts include enhanced remuneration and benefits, including pension, medical allowances and social security, which were not part of the ward cleaners’ previous employment terms. This decision follows the council’s 2018 move to insource ward cleaners, which, according to the council, had already resulted in improved employment conditions.
‘Misalignment of timelines’
However, the City faces a challenge due to a recent arbitration award by the Office of the Labour Commissioner. The award, issued on 30 July, mandates that ward cleaners be considered permanent employees as of 2 September. This order creates a gap between the expiration of the former contracts and the new employment status.
“The misalignment of timelines between the end of the contracts and the Labour Commissioner’s order has presented challenges,” Matyayi's statement read.
To mitigate potential operational and legal risks, the City added a clause to the new contracts to acknowledge the arbitration award and commit to honouring the final court order once the legal process is completed. “The ward cleaners were encouraged to enter into the contracts as afforded to them by the council. This served to mitigate the absence of an employment relationship between council and the ward cleaners between 1 August and 2 September, and thereby mitigate the various operational and legal risks associated with the non-existence of a legal relationship between the parties,” the statement read.
According to the CEO, the ward cleaners - through their representative unions - have indicated their willingness to enter into the new contracts, which they’ve begun signing as of 5 August.