Sh12m bonus boost for ferry workers

The Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) has awarded Sh 12 million bonus to its 300 workers who were on a weeklong go- slow to demand for a pay rise and improved allowances.

The decision to award the disgruntled members of the Dockworkers Union the bonus was arrived at on Friday in a meeting between the management of the state corporation and union officials.

In a telephone interview, the union Secretary General Simon Sang said each of the unionisable workers will receive Sh 40,000 before Friday next week.

“There was an initial plan to pay them bonus by the end of November. However, due to current situation, the management has agreed to pay them before 12th of this month,” Mr Sang told Sunday Nation.

The workers, among them coxswains, were initially demanding a Sh20 million bonus and it was not immediately clear whether they will accept the Sh12 million tabled by their employer.

However, Mr Sang appealed to the union members to return to work and wait for the outcome of further dialogue next week between the union and the KFS management over their demand for increased salaries.

“Further talks will resume on Wednesday next week where we shall deliberate on the issue of pay rise. We hope the management will look into our demands,” he added.

On Thursday Transport Minister Amos Kimunya pledged to personally take part in the talks to ensure their demands were addressed.

“We do not want Kenyans to continue suffering due to strikes. We have suffered enough," the Minister told journalists on the sidelines of the Inaugural Heads of African Maritime Administrations in Ship and Registrars Conference at The Sarova White Sands Beach Hotel in Mombasa.

The go-slow, which started on Monday, partially crippled operations at the crucial Likoni ferry channel leaving thousands of commuters stranded and many others cutting short their journeys due to hours-long delays.

The ferry workers vowed to paralyze operation at Likoni crossing if their plea for better allowances and pay rise will fall on deaf ears.

Their spokesman, Mr Alfan Jita, said they had not been given any pay increment for the last four years.

The workers also complained of poor working conditions, lack of clean drinking water, dirty toilets and lack of working gear.

The ferries transport nearly 200,000 commuters between Mombasa Island and 5,000 vehicles across the channel daily.

The crossing is the key link for vehicles and travellers heading to South Coast and Tanzania through the Lunga Lunga border point.