The changes, if adopted, will empower a Cabinet Secretary to establish a wages council without consulting the employers and workers.
FKE said there is already an existing Regulation of Wages Order in the tailoring, garment making and associated trades that serves a similar purpose and is already in use.
The FKE said that a wages council may be established through a gazette notice if necessary and not through a change of the fundamental provision of the laws.
Employers are opposed to the creation of a wages council for Export Processing Zones (EPZ) workers, under proposed amendments to the Labour Relations Act.
The changes, if adopted, will empower a Cabinet Secretary to establish a wages council without consulting the employers and workers.
The Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE), however, said there is already an existing Regulation of Wages Order in the tailoring, garment making and associated trades that serves a similar purpose and is already in use. The FKE said that a wages council may be established through a gazette notice if necessary and not through a change of the fundamental provision of the laws.
“The committee of parliament has produced a report that by and large agrees with our input and that of the workers and various stakeholders who are concerned about the changes proposed. Employers wish that Parliament declines to pass this proposed bill in its entirety,” FKE chief executive officer Jacqueline Mugo said on Friday.
The opposition comes amid persistent calls by workers for a 22 per cent basic pay increase since last year to counter the rising cost of living.
A report by the Export Processing Zone Authority released last year showed glaring disparities in the average earnings of Kenyans working in EPZs compared to their expatriate counterparts.
Kenyans working in EPZs earned an average of Sh14,319 a month compared to their expatriate counterparts who got about Sh103,157 per month in 2016.
In May, employers had warned of a minimum wage increase, saying the move would hurt the economy that was recovering from last year’s slowdown as a result of the prolonged electioneering period.
The changes are part of three others that will also affect the composition of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) board and the engagement terms between employers and their workers that have been strongly opposed by FKE.
The FKE will know the fate of its input when the House committee on Labour presents its report before Parliament.
The employers added that they are awaiting for final report to be tabled at the second reading of the bill before deciding on the next course of action.
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