East African Portland Cement's #ticker:EAPCC properties are set
to be auctioned to recover Sh1.4 billion owed to workers following the
firm’s failure to fully implement a collective bargaining agreement
(CBA).
The Kenya Chemical and Allied Workers Union
(Kcawu) has already obtained the services of an auctioneer, who will
start attaching EAPCC property upon expiry of the notice.
The
auctioneer will be seeking to recover Sh1,401,585,364, which is the
amount being claimed by more than 400 workers covered in the 2013–2015
CBA.
The said CBA was the subject of a dispute before
the Labour Court and the Court of Appeal. EAPCC was aggrieved that the
court had directed it to increase wages for contract employees.
Court
of Appeal judges GBM Kariuki, Fatuma Sichale and Sankale ole Kantai,
held that upon the contract staff who were not part of management
becoming members of Kcawu on payment of union dues, they were entitled
to benefit from the negotiated CBA.
“It did not
therefore matter whether EAPCC explicitly stated the full category of
workers covered by the negotiations so long as it was understood that
the negotiations covered union members of that particular cadre unless
the contract staff were expressly excluded in the CBA,” said the
appellate judges.
Separate negotiations
The
appellate judges added that EAPCC’s argument that there were separate
negotiations for non-management workers, some of whom were on contract
and others not, does not hold sway and must fail.
Labour
Court Judge Hellen Wasilwa had earlier ruled that payment of trade
union dues is what makes an employee a member of a trade union.
“It
is clear that members paying trade union dues are members of the union
and therefore covered by the CBA negotiated whether permanently employed
or on contract,” Justice Wasilwa.
The manufacturer of
Blue Triangle cement brand had conceded that the dues paid to staff on
contract are different from that paid to staff who are permanent
employees though unionisable.
The reason EAPCC
advanced for this was that putting the wages on the same level is
unsustainable and if implemented it would require Sh71.3 million per
month which funds are not available.
The firm added
that this can lead to redundancies being undertaken, which can lead to
loss of employment of over 632 contract staff.
Justice
Wasilwa, however, said that by conceding that they are paying staff on
contract less than those on permanent basis, EAPCC have breached the
terms of the CBA.
EAPCC and Kcawu have negotiated CBAs since 1961. However, the contract employees were not covered by the CBA until 2011.
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