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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Namibia (RATIFICATION: 1995)

The Committee notes the information provided in the Government’s report.

Articles 3 and 10 of the Convention. Right to strike in export processing zones. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the need to repeal the provision in the Export Processing Zones Amendment Act, 1996, which prohibited any employee from taking action by way of, or participating in, a strike in an export processing zone (EPZ), an action for which the worker is liable to disciplinary penalty or dismissal. The Committee notes with interest from the Government’s latest report that the tripartite Labour Advisory Council agreed to recommend to the Minister of Labour to advise Parliament by June 2001 not to re-enact the provision in the EPZ Amendment Act which prohibits strikes in the zones. The Government adds that it can only communicate the official government position once this issue is discussed in Parliament. The Committee hopes that the necessary measures will be taken in the near future to ensure that workers in export processing zones are not penalized for strike action taken in defence of their interests and requests the Government to keep it informed of the progress made in this regard.

Articles 2 and 3. Application of the Labour Act and the provisions of the Convention in EPZs. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted that section 8(10) of the EPZ Amendment Act provided that the entire section, which provides in particular for the application of the Labour Act to EPZs (section 8(1)), will be deemed to have been repealed if not re-enacted by June 2001. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the discussions held in Parliament in respect of the re-enactment of the general application of the Labour Act and to indicate in its next report whether the Labour Act will continue to be applied to export processing zones.