Kenya power employees threaten to go on strike over plans to lay off almost 2000 staff members through voluntary early retirement
Workers through the Kenya Electrical Trades and Allied Workers (KEWATU), have disagreed with the layoffs arguing that their input was missing from their plan
The company had announced a plan to lay off 1,962 old-age workers and replace them with 830 workers with the aim to reduce and save on Ksh.1.5 billion payroll per year.
KEWATU Secretary General Enerset Nadome said the company should withdraw its proposal or wait till the constitutional right of the employees are represented to avoid mass withdrawal of labour
Kenya power has already engaged with a technical adviser to help in implementing the restructuring and review plan.
“the company wishes to undertake a comprehensive review of existing insurance arrangements and the staff medical scheme with a view to establishing a robust and responsive portfolio and to adopt a cost-effective framework for procurement of insurance service providers and managing the medical scheme going forward,” Kenya Power said in the notice.
According to a Business Daily report, Kenya Power currently has no insurance cover for its 122 substations distributed across the country, exposing the strategic national assets, employees and the general public to major risks in case of accidents.
In November last year, energy principal secretary Gordon Kihalangwa while appearing before the parliamentary committee said that the utility could not afford the cover after bidders quoted the above available budget and could not be awarded pending availability of funds.
The current reforms at the energy distributor come at a time when a 15 percent energy consumption in the country has already been effected as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta in October last year.
This strike could cause a massive threat to Kenya’s economy in the case of a power outage
