Dockworkers Union members at a past gathering. 3,500 Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) workers are expected to call off their two-day strike today after management agreed to hire them on permanent basis.
Over 3,500 Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) workers are expected to call off their two-day strike today after management agreed to hire them on permanent basis.
The employees downed their tools Thursday demanding better conditions with some claiming to have worked at the facility for over 15 years on contractual and casual basis.
KPA corporate affairs manager Bernard Osero revealed that management had, following lengthy crisis meetings yesterday, agreed to the workers’ demands.
The strike affected operations at the port, which has approximately 6,000 employees, putting it at risk of losing millions of shillings in revenues.
“The issue has been resolved and as we speak letters are being prepared,” said Mr Osero.
We have been told that the exercise is likely to take 10 hours but we are determined not to resume work until the last one has been printed and they are in our pockets.”
Mr Abubakar Abdulahi, a shop steward, said about 300 letters had been prepared by this morning and they that they would only pick them once the remaining 3,200 had been prepared.
“We have been told that the exercise is likely to take 10 hours but we are determined not to resume work until the last one has been printed and they are in our pockets,” said Mr Abdulahi.
The Dockworkers Union has remained adamant that its members, who in July were promised permanent employee status by the end of October, would not resume work until this was fulfilled.
The Mombasa port, other than handling cargo headed into Kenya also handles that to and from Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
Kenya is building a $300 million second container terminal at Mombasa to handle increased trade within the region, driven by a sharp growth in construction, vast infrastructure development and an emerging middle class.
Kenya and its neighbours Ethiopia and South Sudan in March started building a second port in Lamu.
Cargo volume through the Mombasa port, a gateway to several countries in East Africa, is usually an indicator of the economic activity in the region.
Imports through the port include oil, clinker which is used to make cement, steel, bitumen for road construction and second-hand cars, while the main exports include tea, coffee, and horticulture goods.
The port’s total throughput rose to about 20 million tonnes in 2011 from 18.9 million tonnes in 2010, above the port's target of 19.4 million tonnes.
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