Postal workers strike in Kenya over delay to pay talks
Thousands of postal workers went on strike in Kenya on Friday, seeking a 30% pay rise and improved benefits from Kenya Post. The strike followed a meeting between the Communications Workers Union (COWU) and the management of the Kenya Postal Corporation, in which the union said management had refused to continue negotiations for a new labour deal, and was now seeking to postpone talks until 2012.
The union, which says many of its members have not seen a pay rise for four years despite a rise in the cost of living, said the plan to postpone negotiations was “just another delay tactic”.
The strike looks set to continue until Kenya Post resumes negotiations.
On Friday, the COWU secretary general Benson Okwaro said: “For the last three years I have been struggling to negotiate salaries for my members here who have been suffering silently while at work, and nobody is thinking about them.
“We have decided therefore to call our members out on strike and no amount of intimidation is going to stop it,” added Okwaro.
Public and private sector transport workers are also going on strike effective today (December 19) in protest at high fuel prices and financial hardships for workers. The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) currently seeking a 30% cut in fuel prices, which it says would have knock-on benefits on all commodity prices in Kenya.
