Standard Bank staff agree to 6% pay rise

STANDARD Bank Namibia employees have agreed to a 6% salary increase and improved allowances, bringing an end to a long-standing wage dispute.

This comes after the workers, through the Namibia Financial Institutions Union (Nafinu), threatened to go on strike while demanding better wages.

Included in the new wage agreement are free banking benefits. Employees will, therefore, no longer pay bank charges. The agreement, signed between Standard Bank Namibia and Nafinu on 17 July, is effective retrospectively from 1 March this year.

This ends a dispute that saw 91.7% of employees who participated in a strike ballot vote in favour of industrial action.

Nafinu secretary general Asnath Zamuee says the settlement represents a compromise by both parties.

“The workers accepted a 6% increase, which was a win-win situation, as we were demanding 7% and the bank was offering 5%,” she says.