The standoff between City Hall workers and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) is now headed to the corridors of justice. This after the workers vowed not to return to work until their demands for a salary increase are met.
Kenya County Government Workers Union (KCGWU) Nairobi branch secretary Benson Olianga said that they have received a letter from the salaries commission informing them to appear before the Labour Relations court on Monday.
“The strike is still on and we will not be at work tomorrow (Monday). We will report at City Hall for a small briefing then we will march to the court. We will halt our demonstrations so that all of us, the entire workforce, will go there.
“SRC has taken us to court and I do not know for what reasons because they are not clear in their application. They are saying that they are an intended interested party,” added Mr Olianga on Sunday.
He said that the letter shows that the case will be mentioned tomorrow (Monday) before Justice Maureen Onyango of the Labour Relations Court. Mr Olianga said that they have even met Labour Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani to resolve the matter but he was not successful as he termed the standoff a unique case which lacks the usual disagreement between the employer and the employees.
Monday marks a week since the workers started the strike holding that they will continue until SRC gives into their demands. The go slow has led to paralysis in operations at various departments at the county government as the workers including cleaners, clinicians, casual labourers as well as the rates and parking attendants boycotted work.
Only a handful of offices at the county remained open as the protesting workers remained true to their stance of not going back to work as they continue to blame Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) for their woes. The workers have placed the blame squarely on the doorsteps of the salaries commission accusing them of being against the negotiated CBA.
The county staff together with their leaders, have been camping outside City Hall and also marching to SRC offices in Upper Hill, have vowed not to return to work until a return to work formula agreed with the county is implemented.
On Wednesday, services at City Mortuary were grounded with only few mortuary attendants available with a huge percentage of them joining the strike.
In the Central Business District (CBD), cleaners and parking attendants were nowhere to be seen as well as those working on the city’s drainages and planting of grass. The situation did not get any better on Thursday and Friday as most of the departments are still lacking personnel as they protested outside City Hall Annex before being dispersed with teargas.
On Tuesday last week, Governor Mike Sonko appealed to the striking workers to go back to work assuring them that his administration will honour the agreement. He also guilted SRC for the standoff, accusing it of rejecting the deal entered in May 2017, although the county had set aside some funds in its supplementary budget to honour the deal.