Swanu MP Evilastus Kaaronda has tabled a motion in the National Assembly calling for improved working conditions for uniformed workers.

He suggested an amendment to the current Labour Act to allow service personnel to be paid overtime and to form or join a trade union.

Kaaronda argued that uniformed workers, especially members of the Namibian Police Force, the Namibian Correctional Services, and the Namibian Defence Force, do not enjoy the basic right of direct negotiation with their employer regarding their conditions of service.

The exemption of these categories from the application of the Labour Act further means they do not get paid overtime even when working long hours that others would ordinarily qualify for.

"The closest example to home, honorable speaker, is the time we spent here debating the national budget long hours into the early hours of the next morning with the police officers sitting outside the chamber. And still, we got paid overtime and they did not. Our uniformed personnel are, by the definition of our existing laws, not regarded or seen as employees or workers despite meeting all salient requirements of being classified as workers. This is all because of the Labour Act."

Kaaronda called on fellow lawmakers to come to the rescue of these workers, saying they have no legal body to speak for them.

"The regulations passed under the Police Act, both the Norwegian police as well as the municipal police services, make what I would best characterize as a fictitious provision to the effect that any member of the force who wishes to form or join a trade union or visualize a trade must first obtain written authorization from the Inspector General of the Norwegian Police."

Kaaronda rejected the idea that forming or belonging to a trade union would threaten public order, decency, or morality and discipline within these fields of service.

Instead, he said it would bring to a halt the tyranny to which these workers are subjected as a matter of rule.

"Police officers are not promoted in rank through a transparent, participatory, and democratic process as they are literally left to the whims of the Inspector General and his cronies. Other complaints have been raised about how sexual favors are demanded of some female members of the force to secure their upward mobility. For far too long, these matters have fallen on deaf ears, and it is time that this August House brings justice to the downtrodden members of our police force and those of other uniformed services."