Dock workers vow to support Jubilee after meeting DP Ruto
What you need to know:
- The 6,000-member union Secretary General Simon Sang announced at a press conference on Monday evening at their Makuli Fagia headquarters in Mombasa that the government would establish a parallel promotion scheme of service for Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) employees that recognise these areas before December 15.
- These requirements were among other demands by the Dockers contained in a document presented to Deputy President William Ruto at Mbaraki Sports Club two weeks ago.
- DWU also declared that its members will campaign for Jubilee in next year’s General Election and “move away from the trade union’s tradition of being anti-government”.
Dock Workers Union has announced key agreements with the government contained in a Memorandum of Understanding, among them promotion of workers based on experience, competence and long service instead of only academic qualification.
The 6,000-member union Secretary General Simon Sang announced at a press conference on Monday evening at their Makuli Fagia headquarters in Mombasa that the government would establish a parallel promotion scheme of service for Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) employees that recognise these areas before December 15.
These requirements were among other demands by the Dockers contained in a document presented to Deputy President William Ruto at Mbaraki Sports Club two weeks ago.
DWU also declared that its members will campaign for Jubilee in next year’s General Election and “move away from the trade union’s tradition of being anti-government”.
“The government has also agreed to start a process of reinstating 28 union officials who were unfairly dismissed on account of participating in a protected strike on the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) rates in 2015,” said Mr Sang.
He said that the government had agreed to stop the privatisation of the Second Container Terminal and the adoption of a port model similar to Dubai, Durban and Singapore ports owned by the states and which are currently the leading world ports in terms of performance.
“The platform with the DP was one of its kind. We have made major strides since then and we will meet the President in two weeks’ time. By mid-December, we want all our issues contained in the MOU to have been resolved,” said the union boss who was flanked by shop stewards and top officials.
He said that to reciprocate, DWU members will support the Jubilee government and campaign for the party in order to adopt the South African style where government top officials are also the leaders of trade unions.
He said that the union will form a joint industrial council with KPA so that in future, industrial disputes are resolved at board meetings instead of resorting to workers’ strikes.
Mr Sang also announced that the union’s move back to the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) from the Trade Union Congress of Kenya (TUC-Ke) was ongoing and would be completed in due course.
