LABOUR RIGHTS INDEX 2022

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LRI 2022
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lri 2022 Country Profiles

Namibia

Trade Union Indicator

The Labour Rights Index 2022 (LRI 2022) is a de-jure index covering 135 economies and structured around the working lifespan of a worker. In total, 46 questions or evaluation criteria are scored across 10 indicators. The overall score is calculated by taking the average of each indicator, with 100 being the highest possible score. The Index uses a rating system, ranging from “Total Lack of Decent Work” to “Decent Work”. The Labour Rights Index aims at an active contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals, by providing necessary (complementary) insights into de jure provisions on issues covered in particular by SDG8 (Decent Jobs), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and SDG 16 (Strong Institutions). The Index is based on national labour legislation, applicable on 1 January 2022. The Index does not take into account COVID-19 related labour market measures in its scoring.

Namibia’s overall score is 66.5 out of 100. The overall score for Namibia is higher than the regional average observed across Sub-Saharan Africa (64.4). Within the Sub-Saharan Africa region, the highest score is observed for Guinea (80.5).

Namibia ratified Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) in 1995 and Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) in 1995.

Labour Rights Index 2022

68.5/100

LRI Country Score

50/100

Trade Union Indicator

18.3 %

Trade union density rate (%)

40.9 %

Collective bargaining coverage rate (%)

0.73

SDG indicator 8.8.2

3

ITUC Global Rights Index 2022 Ratings

Question

Answer

Score

Legal Basis

Violation

Does the law allow workers to form and join unions of their own choice?

Yes

1

§21(1)(e), Constitution of Namibia 1990; §6 & 65, Labour Act 2007

No Violation Found

Does the law allow workers to bargain collectively with employers through their representative unions?

No

0

§64 & 93 of the Labour Act, 2007; USDOS CRHRP 2021

D

Does the law provide for the right to strike?

No

0

§74-77, Labour Act 2007

A

Does the law prohibit employers from terminating employment contracts of striking workers?

Yes

1

§76, Labour Act 2007

No Violation Found

Textual sources

A : National Law

National Labour Legislation

B : CEACR

CEACR: ILO Committee of Experts on Application of Conventions and Recommendations (latest report)

C : ITUC

ITUC: ITUC Global Rights Index 2022

D : USDOS

USDOS: US Department of States' Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2021

LRI Country Score
The Labour Rights Index has 10 indicators and 46 sub-indicators. The LRI Country score averages 10 indicators and ranges between 0 and 100. The lowest and highest scorers are Nigeria (29/100) and Belgium/Greece (96/100). https://labourrightsindex.org/  

Trade Union Indicator
The trade union indicator is composed of 4 sub-indicators. Scoring is done through the binary method (0 or 1). The score ranges between 0-100. 

Trade union density rate (%)
The trade union density rate conveys the number of union members who are employees as a percentage of the total number of employees in the country. For updated statistics on trade union density, please check ILOSTAT. 

Collective bargaining coverage rate (%)
The collective bargaining coverage rate conveys the number of employees whose pay and/or conditions of employment are determined by one or more collective agreement(s) as a percentage of the total number of employees in the country. For updated statistics on collective bargaining coverage, please check ILOSTAT. 

SDG indicator 8.8.2
SDG indicator 8.8.2 measures national compliance with fundamental labour rights (freedom of association and collective bargaining or FACB). It ranges from 0 to 10, with 0 being the best possible score (indicating higher levels of compliance with FACB rights) and 10 the worst (indicating lower levels of compliance with FACB rights). It is based on six ILO supervisory body textual sources and national legislation.
For an updated assessment on SDG indicator 8.8.2, please check ILOSTAT. 

ITUC Global Rights Index 2022 Ratings
The ITUC Global Rights Index depicts the world’s worst countries for workers by rating 148 countries on a scale from 1 to 5+ on the degree of respect for workers’ rights. Violations are recorded each year from April to March.  For a detailed description of ratings and methodology, please follow the link. 

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Violations

No Violation

Violations

US Department of States' Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2021 (USDOS)
USDOS CRHRP 2021

The law provides employees with the right to bargain individually or collectively and provides for recognition of the exclusive collective bargaining power of a union when more than half of workers are members of that union. Employers have no obligation to bargain with minority unions. The law covers all formal-sector workers, including migrants, nonessential public-sector workers, domestic workers, and those in export-processing zones. The law on collective bargaining does not cover the informal sector.

Violations

National Labour Legislation
§77 of the Labour Act 2007

Designation of essential services77. (1) The Essential Services Committee must recommend to the Labour AdvisoryCouncil all or part of a service to be an essential service if, in the opinion of the Committee, theinterruption of that service would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or anypart of the population of Namibia.(2) When the Essential Services Committee is considering whether to recommend aservice to be an essential service, the following requirements apply:(a) except in the case of an urgent application in terms of subsection (12), the EssentialServices Committee must give notice in the Gazette of any investigation that theEssential Services Committee intends to conduct as to whether it should recommendthat all or part of a service be designated as an essential service, which notice must -(i) indicate the service or part of a service that is to be the subject of theinvestigation;(ii) invite interested parties to make written submissions within a period stated inthe notice; and(iii) state the date, time and place of the hearing referred to in paragraph (b);(b) the Essential Services Committee may hold a public hearing at which persons whomade written submissions may make oral representations;(c) after having considered the written submissions and oral representations, theEssential Services Committee -(i) may decide whether or not to recommend the designation of the whole or thepart of a service that was the subject of the investigation as an essentialservice; and(ii) must forward its report and recommendations to the Labour Advisory Council.(3) The Labour Advisory Council must, after considering the report of the EssentialServices Committee, forward its recommendations to the Minister.(4) On receipt of the recommendations of the Labour Advisory Council, the Ministermust consider those recommendations and if the Minister decides to designate any part of aservice as an essential service, the Minister must publish a notice of designation of that essentialservice in the Gazette.(5) In making a decision in terms of subsection (4), the Minister is not bound by orobliged to follow the recommendation of the Labour Advisory Council.

Violations

No Violation