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 Broadcasti

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.