Christmas has come early for 15, 000 Nairobi County staff who are set to enjoy salary increment from next month, January, 2019.
This comes after City Hall promised to implement a 15 percent pay hike deal struck between the county government and the workers’ parent union, Kenya County Government Workers Union, in May, 2017 which was later registered in September this year.
Deputy County Secretary and Public Service Management chief officer Leboo Morintat said the county executive committee has adopted the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) registered in September.
“It is imperative to note that the issue of the CBA has been long outstanding matter going beyond the current administration of Governor Mike Sonko," he said.
“We as a county government need to appreciate the personal effort and highest consideration taken by the governor to increase the remuneration of county employees. Consequently therefore, the CBA shall be implemented in the payroll from the month of January, 2019,” added Morintat in a circular dated December 13, 2018 and addressed to all the county staff.
The CBA was registered before the Industrial Court’s Judge Nelson Abwodha paving way for workers from all the cadres at the county to start enjoying the negotiated 15 percent increment bringing to an end a protracted negotiation that started in 2015.
The negotiation for the CBA has been protracted taking years before it was eventually signed in May 2017 under the previous regime of Evans Kidero.
Under the terms of the agreement, the pay rise was to take effect in the new financial year of the 2017-18 but that never happened even though the county set aside Sh800 million to cater for the CBA.
In light of the announcement, Leboo directed the Human Resource Management department to prepare a supplementary budget incorporating the new salary and submit the registered CBA to the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs for updating in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) system in the month of January, 2019.
“By a copy of this circular, the human resource management department is under instruction to finalise preparation of the supplementary budget which incorporates the new salary and also submit the registered CBA to the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs for updating in the IPPD system in the month of January, 2019,” he said.
In September, KCGWU Secretary General Roba Duba indicated that the workers were to get the new salaries by October explaining that the registration of the CBA in court in effect meant that it was now a law.
He stated that the CBA is divided into two, monetary and non-monetary terms, which will see the workers also benefit from other perks like leave allowances, medical cover and other related perks.
The former Moyale MP, however, decried that there has been no revision of terms for county government workers, formerly local authority workers who transited to the county government, for close to seven years since 2012.