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Football players' union takes Namibia Football Association to labor court

Xinhua, October 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

The cash-strapped Namibia Football Association will appear in the labor court Oct. 25 to explain why it has refused to recognize the players' union.

Frans Mbidi, the association's president, confirmed Friday that they were served with summons by the labor court.

In court papers seen by Xinhua on Friday, the Namibia Football Players Union said the association recognized them in 2010 and 2012 as the players' bargaining unit.

The union also said in 2014, the association even granted it membership status to allow the players representatives to participate in various events linked to the association.

According to the papers, since the association is now ignoring the union, the only option is to ask the labor court to intervene.

Among other things, the union wants the labor court to order the association to recognize it as the players' bargaining agent and to compel it to establish players' status committee according to the Football International Regulations on Status and Transfer of Players and a Dispute Resolution Charter.

The union also wants the labor court to compel the association to put in place regulations that will protect contracts and adhere to national laws as per FIFA regulations.

On June 6, 2016, the union warned that days of abusing football players were over at a meeting held in Windhoek.

The union's president, former player Sylvester 'Lolo' Goraseb, told a media briefing then that premier league clubs had failed to pay the players in the last few months.

Olsen Kahiriri, who is the union's secretary-general, told the same media briefing that they want to send out a strong warning that the union representatives were not in football to share biscuits and coffee.

The Namibia Football Players Union was formed in 2008 and registered with the Labour Commission the same year and joined the Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro), which is a worldwide representative organization for professional football players. Enditem