Dock workers set to ditch Cotu
The chairman Dockworkers union Mr Jeffa Kithi addresses journalists July 3, 2014 after giving the Government 21 days to stop privatisation of the port. The Dock Workers Union has amended a clause in its constitution to allow it to ditch the Central Organisation of Trade Unions and join a yet-to-be-formed organisation. FILE PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- He said the idea to ditch Cotu and join the yet-to-be-formed Trade Union Congress (TUC) was being forced down members’ throats.
- Other unions planning to dump Cotu include the Kenya National Union of Teachers, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers, the Union of Kenya Civil Servants, the Universities Non-Teaching Staff Union, the Universities Academic Staff Union and the Kenya Universities Staff Union.
The Dock Workers Union has amended a clause in its constitution to allow it to ditch the Central Organisation of Trade Unions and join a yet-to-be-formed organisation.
The decision was endorsed by the majority of union members at a special meeting chaired by secretary-general Simon Sang and held at Bandari College on Saturday.
However, a group later distanced itself from the decision and threatened to move to court on Tuesday to block it.
The group, led by Mr Clement Libuko and Mr Marshal Hayokho, claimed that the Bandari meeting was stage-managed, against the trade union’s constitution, and full of intimidation.
“We were given copies of the ratified constitution hours before the meeting and we had no time to peruse the proposed amendments. We were warned before the meeting not to oppose the proposal. The meeting was illegal,” said Mr Libuko.
TRAMPLED UPON
Mr Hayokho said the union had more than 5,000 members but only 900 attended the conference. “This number cannot lawfully change the constitution.”
He said the idea to ditch Cotu and join the yet-to-be-formed Trade Union Congress (TUC) was being forced down members’ throats.
“We believe our rights as members have been trampled upon and we shall go to court on Tuesday (today) to block the move,” he said.
Mr Sang dismissed the group, saying they would not succeed in their plans.
He announced that a special conference of seven trade unions would be held in Nairobi on October 31 to draw the final programme for the launch of TUC.
OTHER UNIONS
According to Mr Sang, other unions planning to dump Cotu include the Kenya National Union of Teachers, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers, the Union of Kenya Civil Servants, the Universities Non-Teaching Staff Union, the Universities Academic Staff Union and the Kenya Universities Staff Union.
He said the plan had the support of Labour Cabinet Secretary Kazungu Kambi, “who will attend the Nairobi conference”.
Cotu secretary-general Francis Atwoli has dismissed the idea of forming a parallel trade union organisation, saying it was bound to fail because it would be “a government mouthpiece, not a workers’ rights body”.
