Nairobi County workers suspend strike to allow negotiations

City Hall resumed operations Friday afternoon after workers suspended their go-slow in a move that will save the county government from the continued loss of millions of shillings in revenue.

The cash office that remained closed for 10 days was reopened with scores of Nairobians queuing to pay their rates.

The parking attendants were also back to work to avert the near-paralysis of revenue collection in the capital.

City Hall has been losing more than Sh65 million every day in unpaid rates and fees throughout the strike, piling pressure on its ability to raise Sh15.21 billion that it targets to raise in the year to June.

Some of the 12,000 workers have been camping outside City Hall in a bid to force the county government to honour a 15 per cent rise agreed in 2017.

The county has been losing more than Sh65 million in daily revenues, with parking and markets rates that are paid on daily basis being the worst hit.

21 days

“Today we have agreed to suspend the strike for 21 days to allow for deliberations between with relevant stakeholders.

"We will however be back after 21 days if we do not get our salary increment,” union secretary Benson Oriaro said on Friday morning.

Mr Oriaro however said that they will not report to work on Tuesday, when a case filed by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) will be heard before the Employment and Labour Relations Court.

SRC filed the case early this week challenging the validity of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA0 signed between City Hall and the 13,000 staff in 2017.

The county has since 2013 failed to hit its revenue targets mainly blamed on weak resources to arrest defaulters and corruption amongst officials.

It raised Sh10.2 billion in the year to June against a target of Sh17.2 billion, putting it under financial pressure to deliver quality services like basic health to city residents.