Nairobi county workers down tools over unsolved CBA issues

Nairobi county workers have vowed to continue with their strike until their grievances are heard.

The workers began their strike on Monday over persistent delays by the county government in paying their salaries among other issues.

Members of the public who had arrived at City Hall Annexe to seek services were stranded because some of the offices were locked while others had no workers.

The workers had earlier issued a seven-day strike notice to the Ann Kananu-led administration of their intention to strike.

Led by the Kenya County Government Workers Union officials, they accused City Hall of failing to complete the promotion of all eligible staff and unwillingness to finalise CBA negotiation.

Other issues were perennial electricity disconnections and intermittent NHIF medical cover due to failure to pay premiums and remit monthly deductions.

KCGWU Nairobi branch secretary general Feastus Ngari accused the county of being reluctant and not taking their plight seriously.

“We are invisible before our employer. Our demands have never been fulfilled, only empty promises,” he said.

“The issue of persistence salary delay must end and the impunity facing statutory deductions must be addressed.”

Nairobi branch secretary Calvince Okello said the county government has persistently failed to honour its commitments and obligations with the perennial delays compounding the suffering of their members.

He said that Nairobi residents will not get services until the workers' demands are met.

“This administration has failed despite having several dialogues with them. We now demand what is rightfully ours,” Okello said.

Efforts to reach out to the county secretary Jairus Musumba were futile as he did not respond to calls and messages.

However, the Star has established that top county officials held a meeting during the morning hours to try to solve the issues.

In February, the workers had threatened to down tools over the failure of the county to remit their statutory deductions.

The county had been put in a spot over an alleged diversion of more than Sh490.5 million in staff funds to unauthorised expenditures.

The staff accused City Hall of failing to remit their statutory deductions and union dues despite making a requisition to the Controller of Budget.

The diverted funds include statutory deductions and union dues amounting to Sh490.47 million between October and December 2021 and Sh70 million staff claims for January.

However, the Ministry of Labour called upon the union to suspend their 21-day strike notice.

The ministry assigned a special officer, Boaz Musandu, to assist the workers’ union in resolving the issue.

With the accusations by the union, the Controller of Budget launched investigations into City Hall’s alleged diversion of Sh490.5 million meant for county staff salary deductions.

The workers union had raised the issue with COB Margaret Nyakang’o calling for an investigation and audit of the county government’s expenditure during the period under focus.

The saga surrounding the staff salary deductions came to light in January when the union raised an alarm demanding the immediate remittance of all deductions without delay.

The unremitted deductions included Sacco loans, pension, NHIF, NSSF, PAYE, salaries, welfare, and Union dues.

Ngari said failure to pay the deductions has exposed the staff to untold suffering with banks being penalised for actions outside their control.

He said the diversion of funds had resulted in county employees’ funds being frozen by different financial institutions and being charged exorbitant default penalties on their loans.

Edited by Kiilu Damaris