Telkom workers call off strike to seek legal redress

Telkom Kenya employees have called off their one-week old strike that was triggered by a bonus pay dispute and instead lodged a case at the Industrial Court.

Benson Okwaro, the secretary-general of the Communication Workers Union (Cowu), said in an interview on Thursday that the Union had reached an agreement on two issues that were raised by the employees; but the parties disagreed on the bonus issue forcing them to seek redress at the Industrial Court. The employees are expected to resume work on Friday.

The two issues agreed upon are overtime payments to some 54 employees effective October and investigations into alleged harassment of union members at the call centre. 

“We called off the strike yesterday (Wednesday) after we reached an agreement on two out of the three issues raised by the employees, however we disagreed with Telkom Kenya on the bonus and we are now pursuing the matter at the Industrial Court,” said Mr Okwaro.

The workers are claiming that they 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 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 Business Daily could not confirm the amount involved in the overtime claim by the 54 employees. 

“The business also confirms that the payment of overtime to 54 members of staff at our Customer Care Department is being processed, in accordance with a decision arrived at by the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Services,” Telkom Kenya said in a statement.

Telkom Kenya management has maintained its stand that the unionised staff are not eligible for bonuses, leading to Wednesday’s stalemate.

The management however said the cases of harassment and intimidation of certain members of the Union are being addressed. 

“The management of the company has recently been involved in an all-inclusive process with the Union and our staff, these alleged issues have been tabled and are now being addressed,” said Telkom.