State headed for battle with Cotu over new union

 

Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli speaks during this year’s Labour Day celebrations at Uhuru Park, Nairobi. FILE 

By DAVID HERBLING

In Summary

• The National Union of Kenya Parastatal Employees (Nukpe) has been granted the go-ahead to begin recruiting workers employed in State-owned corporations.
• The new union has more than 200 State corporations that employ more than 500,000 workers to recruit members from.
• Existing labour unions have vowed to oppose the move that may result in Kenya’s biggest union when the application for full registration comes up for hearings involving interested parties.

A new trade union to champion the welfare of parastatal workers has been registered in what is seen as another attempt by the executive at weakening key affiliates of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu).

The National Union of Kenya Parastatal Employees (Nukpe) has been granted the go-ahead to begin recruiting workers employed in State-owned corporations over the next six months.

“The proposed National Union of Kenya Parastatal Employees has been authorised to undertake lawful activities in order to establish a trade union,” said a July 9 notice signed by the registrar of trade unions William Langat.

Existing labour unions have vowed to oppose the move that may result in Kenya’s biggest union when the application for full registration comes up for hearings involving interested parties.

The new union has more than 200 State corporations that employ more than 500,000 workers to recruit members from.

Nukpe will be required to make a fresh application for full registration to the National Labour Board after the six months for it to starting operating as a labour union.

Nukpe said it wants to mobilise all employees of State agencies into a labour movement that would fight to improve their terms and conditions of service and lobby for a better working environment.

“Parastatal employees have for long worked under trade unions dominated by private company employees and their issues have not been properly addressed,” said Nukpe interim secretary general Simion Kirui.

Mr Kirui said the union would also take on the culture of patronage in the sector where internal recruitment and promotions are ignored in favour of external hiring, including that of board of directors.

Its formation comes barely a week after President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed a task force to rationalise the management of parastatals and align them to the Constitution.

(Read: Uhuru Kenyatta picks parastatal taskforce)

The parastatal sector is made up of firms in financial services, commercial and manufacturing, regulatory bodies, public universities, and training and research institutes, regional development authorities and tertiary colleges.

State corporation workers are currently represented by different labour unions together with employees from the private sector based on their trade.

Mr Kirui argued that parastatal employees have unique needs such as inadequate representation during privatisation and layoffs.

“Trade unions affiliated to Central organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) are predominantly from the private sector and they understand little about the challenges faced by employees in government institutions,” Mr Kirui said.