Tea pickers to sustain strike till demands met
Tea pickers at work. They have vowed to continue with their strike. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Labour Court had temporarily stopped the companies from sacking or evicting the employees from their staff quarters.
- KTGA is afraid that if the salaries are increased as demanded, the wage bill will subject them to losses.
Tea companies in Nandi County have suffered massive losses as more than 60,000 tea pickers downed their tools to demand implementation of a court order giving them a 30 per cent salary increase.
Trade unionists representing the workers Wednesday promised to sustain the strike, which has entered its second week, until the Industrial Court ruling of 2014 is fully implemented.
Meanwhile, the tea workers through their union will Wednesday argue why they should not be sacked for striking to push for the implementation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
NOTICE
The Labour Court had temporarily stopped the companies from sacking or evicting the employees from their staff quarters, after they issued a strike notice to push for the implementation of the outstanding issues pertaining to the 2016/2017 CBA.
The order was directed at Kenya Tea Growers Association, Unilever Tea (K) Ltd, Sotik Tea Company Ltd, Kakuzi Ltd, and Eastern Produce (K) Ltd.
The Kenya Tea Growers Association (KTGA) had last week received a prohibition order from court barring the union from enforcing the strike but the officials said the orders had been overtaken by events.
“The strike will go on until tea firms honour the court order on salary increase. Only 15 per cent has been effected so far,” Kenya Agricultural and Plantation Workers’ Union (KAPWU) national organising secretary Henry Omasire said in Nandi Hills.
LABOUR COURT
The officials successfully got prohibitory orders from the Labour Court in Kericho barring the tea multinationals from engaging the services of the police to evict striking workers from their houses.
“We call upon the workers to keep off the tea farms until the demands are met. They have fallen prey to unfair labour practices being championed by employers in the tea industry,” said Mr Omasire.
KAPWU’s deputy general secretary Thomas Kipkemboi accused the employers of deliberately failing to honour the order by placing other legal road blocks.
“There is no commitment on the employers’ part to effect the order. They should brace themselves for tough times since our members will not report on duty no matter the threats,” said Mr Kipkemboi.
The KTGA is afraid that if the salaries are increased as demanded, the wage bill will subject them to losses. Tea firms also claim that they are recovering from losses occasioned by drought and, therefore, are not in a position to increase salaries.
Reports also by Abiud Ochieng
