CS Yatani adamant as changes to labour laws dispute rages

The push and pull between the government and trade unions over the proposed changes to labour relation laws is expected to intensify after Labour Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said they are necessary.

Mr Yatani said the changes could not have come at a better time even as workers, who have accused the government of being the stumbling block to good industrial relations, prepare to mark Labour Day celebrations on Tuesday.

Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) and Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) among others have opposed the changes, terming them retrogressive and archaic.

STRIKES
The Labour Relations Act Miscellaneous Bill, 2018 is currently before the National Assembly.

“The proposed changes to the labour laws are minor and they are meant to align the law with the Constitution,” Mr Yatani said on Sunday.

He spoke in the presence of Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli and his Knut counterpart Wilson Sossion at St Stephen ACK Church in Nairobi.

“The principal law was enacted in 1965, but even the constitution that existed then has since been overhauled because it could not address the challenges of that time.

"The right to go on strike should not infringe on the rights of others,” CS Yatani added.

NEGOTIATIONS

Among the changes Mr Atwoli is uncomfortable with is the government’s push that workers intending to go on strike must give a 21-day notice from the current seven.

The argument behind this is to give more time for negotiations between the National Treasury, the line ministry and the affected workers.

According to Mr Yatani, the negotiations are usually tedious and time-consuming.

The bill also provides that doctors, nurses and other medical workers’ unions will be required to provide a set minimum of their members to continue working during strikes so that service delivery is not disrupted.

DUALE

However, Mr Atwoli and Mr Sossion have protested the changes, saying they violate the constitutional rights of workers.

The bill was tabled by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale.

“He (Duale) is the one pushing to amend the labour laws through the back door. The phrase used in the bill to define what an ‘essential service’ is can only be retrogressive and pre-colonial.”