City Hall signed an agreement with its workers on salary increment, but do you think the agreement will be honored any time soon? The issue seem to have taken a new twist! The standoff between Nairobi county workers and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission has headed to court as strike enters its second week.
Kenya County Government Workers Union secretary Benson Olianga told a local daily the union had received a letter from SRC asking officials to appear before Labour Court on Monday.
“As a union, we don’t understand it. Currently, there is no case and the reason why SRC has taken us to court is not clear,” he said on Monday.
Olianga said the letter indicates that the case will be before Justice Maureen Onyango of the Labour Relations Court.
“As a union, we will go to the court because we want to hear what the SRC says. This is new because I have never heard of an intended interested party in a non-existent case,” he said.
Last week, Olianga said the union met Labour CS Ukur Yatani in an attempt to resolve the matter but was unsuccessful.
Yatani said the standoff between the SRC and workers was a unique case because it lacks the element of a disagreement between the employer and employees.
City Hall workers downed their tools on February 12 and have vowed not to return to work until their demands are met. They want a pay rise of between 15 and 28 per cent that translates to approximately Sh100 million.
The agreement was signed in May 2017 and City Hall had promised to effect it last month. The strike has paralysed operations in various departments at City Hall.
More than 13,000 workers who are on strike are mainly; parking attendants, mortuary attendants, sweepers, cemetery workers, contractors, those who plant and cut grass and unblocking drainages.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has appealed to the workers to go back to work and promised his administration would honour the agreement.