The Metal and Allied Namibian Workers Union (MANWU) was established in 1987 as the third trade union under the umbrella of the National Union of Namibian Worker(NUNW). It organises workers in a variety of industrial sectors such as iron steel and engineering, the motor industry, automotive and electrical engineering, building and construction, plastics, locksmith, karakul processing, furniture retailing, shipbuilding and repair stationary wholesaler, painting and photocopying, hardware retailing, scrap metal, waste management and manufactacturing.

 

Manwu had to operate under repressive conditionin the early years and remained one of the smaller unions for many years with a total of membership of around 3000. At the time of its national congress in 2007, when MANWU celebrated 20 years of existence, it membership at about 3300 but by June 2009, MANWU's paid up membership had increased to 8 177 members and this figure grew further to around 15000 in 2014.Likewise , the number of union branches increased to 8 across the country and MANWU now employs a total of 29 staff members. Thus Manwu became one of the fastest -growing Namibian trade union in recent years.

 

How did the union achieve this?

At the time of the 2007 congress, the union was characterised by internal division that found expression in support for different candidates that stood for national leadership positions. After the congress, the newly eleted leadership realised that organisational unity was a prerequisite for a successful trade union Bernard Milinga explained that under the new leadership a new organisational culture emerged: staff members were consulted on all organisational issues; they were afforded opportunities for training and they were offered incentives for performing well. One of the measures introduced was to encourage union organisers and to pay them an additional N$1 for each new paid up member that was recruited. Furthermore, salaries and benefits were improved to lift morale amongst staff.