Security guards get pay and perks raise in fresh accord
FILE| NATION
A security guard opens a gate in Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- Lowest paid employee to take home Sh18,000 as union and employers increase allowances
- Union calls on MPs to fast-track Bill on private policing
The lowest paid security guard will earn Sh18,000 up from Sh14,000 following an agreement to improve their terms.
Leave allowance has risen from Sh1,250 to Sh3,000 and backdated to June 1 last year.
This is after a union for security guards negotiated the first ever agreement with the Federation of Kenya Employers and the Kenya Kazi Services Ltd (KK) management.
The agreement applies only to guards whose employers are members of the Kenya National Private Security Workers Union.
When an employee dies, the employer will give the guard’s family Sh20,000 for coffin and Sh25,000 transporting the body and belongings. House allowance will now be Sh3,500 up from Sh2,500, cleaning allowance rises from Sh400 to Sh450 while night allowance has been raised from Sh50 to Sh85.
The watchmen— mainly KK guards attached to the US Embassy— who previously received Sh25 only as meal allowance a day will now get Sh140 from June 1, 2012.
“This will change the style and manner of security guarding in our country as it sets standards,” said union secretary-general Isaac Andabwa.
Mr Andabwa called upon other security firms with whom they had signed recognition to speed up negotiations.
Mr Benson Okwaro, who represented the Central Organisation of Trade Unions, said the agreement would open quest for improved workers welfare in other companies.
