In accordance with Recognition and Procedural Agreement signed between Whale Rock Cement (trading as Cheetah Cement) and the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN), the two parties, on 17 October, 2023, reached a wage agreement that will cover the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 Financial Years.
The Recognition and Procedural Agreement, which seeks to regulate industrial relations between WRC and the MUN which represents at least 50% plus one of the Cheetah Cement workers, requires the two parties to negotiate on a basic wage and/or other remuneration in respect of each job grade in the bargaining unit, as well as any other work-related benefits which the Union and the Company agree in writing are negotiable. It also mandates the two parties to negotiate on any other issues or conditions of employment to which the Union and the Company agree are negotiable.
Following negotiations between WRC management and MUN representatives which took place in a cordial manner since May, 2023, the two parties reached a two-year substantive wage agreement which will see all Cheetah Cement employees within the bargaining unit receive a 6% salary increment across the board, for both the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 Financial Years. The increase is earmarked to cushion the employees against national inflation which is currently around 6%.
The 6% increase will be backdated to 1 July, 2023 for the 2023/2024 Financial Year. For the 2024/2025 Financial Year the implementation date of the increase will be 1 May, 2024. The implementation dates were agreed upon by the two parties taking note of the Recognition Agreement which set the implementation of salary increments for 1 May each year.
WRC and MUN also agreed to increase the daily food allowance from N$30 to N$50, for the qualifying employees of Cheetah Cement. This will be effective from 1 July, 2023. The parties agreed that the food allowance will remain fixed until it’s brought up for negotiation again. For the 2024/2025 Financial Year, all employees within the bargaining unit will also receive a N$120 increase in their N$1 000 monthly housing allowance, bringing it to N$1 120.