Unions demand payrise for workers
What you need to know:
- Employers want the President not to honour wage increase during this year’s Labour Day
Trade unionists have asked President Kenyatta to ignore calls by employers that the government should not increase the minimum wage this year.
They termed Federation of Kenya employers (FKE) calls asking the President not to honour this year’s wage increase as mischievous and ill-intended.
Kenya Union of Sugar Plantation and Allied Workers secretary-general Francis Wangara said the call ahead of the Labour Day celebrations amounted to intimidation.
“President Kenyatta has the powers to make decisions regarding the workers’ welfare and therefore FKE should stop telling Kenyans that they are not prepared for this year’s minimum wage increment yet it has been a tradition,” Mr Wangara said.
He went on: “What have they done significantly to reduce the cost of living that warrants justification for no wage increase.”
GRAPPLING WITH MEAGRE SALARIES
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary general Wilson Sossion said their members are grappling with meagre salaries.
“Some employers have not paid their workers for the past eight months. We are not going to entertain slavery in this country,” Mr Sossion said on phone on Thursday.
He noted that the FKE call was pointless since most workers in the plantations, processing and manufacturing sectors were earning salaries below the minimum wage.
“Some of the workers in this country live on Sh6,000. This is far much below the minimum wage,” he said.
FKE had on Tuesday asked the government not to increase the minimum wage ahead this year, saying employers were overburdened with high wage bill and cost of production.
FKE national chairman Erastus Mwongera said employers said employers would not support any wage increase this year since the current minimum wage was the highest in the East African region.
Cotu Nyanza regional representative Tom Owuor said: “Wage increase is not pegged on individual thinking but based on mathematics that is calculated, which is the cost of living.”
He said Cotu is pushing for the current minimum wage bill to increased by 20 per cent.
Last year, President Kenyatta announced a 14 per cent increase that saw the minimum wage rise from Sh11,995 to Sh13,674.
