Farmworker wage negotiations to continue next year

The Agricultural Employers' Association (AEA) says it will continue to negotiate with the government next year regarding minimum wages for agricultural workers to ensure that labour on farms remains affordable and sustainable.This follows the announcement of the National Minimum Wage for Namibia in the government gazette on 7 August.According to this, all workers in the country must receive at least N$18 per hour.However, the regulations make an exception for domestic workers and agricultural workers, who can phase in the increase over a period of three years. The regulations specify that agricultural workers are entitled to a cash wage of: N$10 per hour from 1 January 2025; N$14 per hour from 1 January 2026 and N$18 per hour from 1 January 2027.On the advice of the labour ministry, the AEA, along with other agricultural unions and the farm workers' union, has applied for the agriculture sector to be exempted from the national minimum wage.The justification for this request is that the agricultural sector has had an officially negotiated minimum wage for over 20 years, which has also been published from time to time in the Government Gazette. According to the labour ministry, the application is currently lodged with the Labour Advisory Council for consideration and recommendation to the labour minister.Dilemma "The dilemma for the agricultural sector is now that the implementation date of the national minimum wage (1 January 2025) may arrive without us having received a response from the minister regarding our request for exemption," said the Namibia Agricultural Union in its latest newsletter.This would mean that farm workers will have to receive a cash wage of at least N$10 per hour from January 2025. The current minimum cash wage for farm workers is N$6 per hour.The minimum wage regulations further specify that this does not replace the current minimum wage for farm workers but only prescribes the minimum cash wages.Farmworkers will still be entitled to all the other benefits in the minimum wage agreement for farmworkers, including housing, water and food provision. It stipulates that the value of any "in-kind" benefits may not be deducted from the prescribed cash wage.Not many affectedAccording to the AEA’s 2024 wage report, the actual average cash wage for farm workers on members' farms is N$11.04 per hour, meaning the new minimum cash wage of N$10 per hour will not affect most workers starting from January."Meanwhile, the AEA will continue to engage and negotiate with the government in the new year to ensure that labour on farms remains affordable and sustainable," their newsletter stated.In the meantime, the Namibia Employers' Federation (NEF) has also made an urgent request to the labour minister on behalf of the private sector to postpone the implementation date of the national minimum wage to a later date in 2025."The goal is to give employers the opportunity to properly negotiate with the government and trade unions about the successful implementation of the national minimum wage across all sectors to prevent unnecessary job losses."So far, this request to the labour minister has not yet yielded any results.

Farmworker wage negotiations to continue next year

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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Farmworker wage negotiations to continue next year

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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