1,000 Telkom Kenya unionisable employees strike over bonus pay

What you need to know:

Telkom Kenya has close to 1,500 employees, two-thirds of whom are Cowu members.
The staff claim that non-unionisable staff and senior managers are getting paid an average bonus of between Sh30,000 and Sh1 million.

More than 1,000 unionisable staff of Telkom Kenya downed their tools Wednesday to press for an increase in their bonus pay.

The workers issued a strike notice last week, claiming that unionisable staff were being paid a token Sh2,000 bonus while some senior staff were getting as much as Sh1 million each.

READ: Telkom Kenya staff in bonus pay strike threat

Telkom Kenya, however, said only slightly more than 150 employees were on strike.

The firm maintained its stand that the unionised staff are not eligible for bonuses, a move that is likely to prolong the strike and affect its operations, causing inconvenience to customers.

Benson Okwaro, the Communication Workers Union (Cowu) general secretary, vowed that the strike will continue indefinitely until issues raised are addressed.

The employees also claimed that the Telkom Kenya management is discriminating against unionisable staff, and using the bonus pay to coerce them into quitting Cowu.

Telkom Kenya has close to 1,500 employees, two-thirds of whom are Cowu members. The staff claim that non-unionisable staff and senior managers are getting paid an average bonus of between Sh30,000 and Sh1 million.

The firm Wednesday said it had addressed three issues raised by the employees that include harassment of union members, union bashing and refusal by management to pay overtime to 54 members of staff.

“It is not only the unionised staff that are not eligible for bonus payments ... those on variable pay and those that earn commissions do not qualify for the payment of bonuses, making the union’s claim of discrimination unfounded,” Telkom Kenya said in a statement.