More than 80 employees at the Katutura State Hospital, employed on fixed-term contracts, received termination notices of employment effective from tomorrow, in a move the unions described as illegal.
The Public Service Union of Namibia and the Namibia Retail and Allied Workers Union say the Ministry of Health and Social Services prematurely terminated the employment contracts under false pretenses.
The workers started working at the Katutura State Hospital in 2017 as cleaners through an outsourcing agreement between the ministry and a private company, Adaptic.
After that service agreement came to an end, the workers were allegedly enticed by the ministry to continue rendering cleaning services at the hospital on a voluntary basis with the hope of being employed permanently in the future.
They then worked as volunteers for two years, from 2017 to 2019, without earning a salary.
In August 2020, the Ministry decided to give them fixed-term contracts with a renewable option.
However, the workers were recently served with termination notices informing them that their contracts, which were set to expire in December, would be terminated on Monday.
The ministry says their services were only required during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The unions are urging the ministry to withdraw the termination letters immediately, calling them unlawful and unfair.
They are also accusing the Ministry of attempting to recruit new cleaners through third parties, and in the process, overlooking contract workers who have been serving as volunteers.
The Executive Director, Ben Nangombe, said the union should have contacted the ministry for more information instead of concluding that the termination was unlawful.
Nangombe said the group was employed on a temporary basis as part of the COVID-19 response measures, that the financial resources allocated to the Health Ministry for COVID-19 response purposes are no longer available, and, therefore, it is not sustainable to keep them.
But the unions threatened to lodge an urgent application with the High Court should the ministry fail to withdraw the termination letters.