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The Kenya Union of Commercial Food and Allied workers has urged the
government to protect workers in the country from unlawful sacking.Union secretary Abdulahi Kiptanui says some companies are now using
the COVID-19 pandemic to lay off workers without pay.
According to Kiptanui, the trend has put the workers in an awkward
situation as they cannot provide for their families.
Addressing the press in Kericho town, he pointed many supermarkets in
the county have been closed, rendering hundreds of workers redundant.
Kiptanui said the labor movement now faces a bleak future adding that
Cotu should urgently convene a delegates conference to chat the way
forward.
Meanwhile, the Nandi National Chamber of Commerce and Industry chair
Samuel Seroney has urged the county government to give traders a
waiver, saying they are hardly hit by Covid-19.
Seroney also welcomed the guidelines aimed at curtailing the spread of
the disease, adding that the business community in the county has
fully complied with the guidelines.
Separately,
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, in his daily updates on COVID 19 in the country, has pleaded with employers to ensure their employees are able to afford food, as a bare minimum.
“I would like to send an increased appeal to our employers and to ask them to treat their employees in a humane manner. We have situations, for example, where employees have been sent home on unpaid leave.I appeal to the employers even if you are unable to pay the full salaries that people earn, please consider supporting at least for minimum requirements of the household..so that at least they can be able to put a meal on the table”, CS Kagwe appealed.