A crisis, which could cause another nationwide blackout is looming following plans by staff at the troubled Kenya Power, to proceed on strike.
A report by Business Daily on Thursday, February 24, indicated that the staff are opposed to a decision by the power distributor to lay off over 2,000 employees.
The staff, who are attached to the Kenya Electrical Trades and Allied Workers Union (Ketawu) argue that they were not consulted when the company resorted to the move.
“The management is hereby advised to withdraw its proposal dated January 24, 2022, to pre-empt massive withdrawal of labour or otherwise until the constitutional rights of workers are respected and actualised,” stated Ketawu Secretary-General Ernest Nadome.
The company initiated the plans to relieve the workers of their duties, which represent 20 per cent of its workforce, as a cost-cutting measure following President Uhuru Kenyatta's directive to slash power charges by 15 per cent.
In mid-February, Kenya power announced that it would execute the Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) programme as part of the restructuring exercise.
If it succeeds, the move would save the company Ksh1.54 billion annually..
Discussions on the lay off of the aged workforce have already kicked off among the company's board members.
The board stated that the exercise will be implemented in three phases between May and June next year at a one-off cost of nearly Ksh5.30 billion.
According to a circular by Kenya Power acting Chief Executive Officer, Rosemary Oduor, the exercise will cushion the utility firm against winding staff expenses which have been growing at a pace more than double the revenue created.
“Implementation of the Voluntary Employees Retirement exercise for 1,962 employees, which account for 20 per cent of the total workforce, will cost Ksh5.298 billion.
“The objective of this exercise is to manage the staff costs, which in the recent past have increased to unsustainable levels and bring agility to the workforce,” read the circular.
This comes after the senior staff members at monopolistic company were charged with the power outage experienced countrywide in January 2022.
