President William Ruto on Tuesday, February 14, held a meeting with officials from the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) to discuss a number of issues affecting Kenyan workers.
Led by the Secretary of General Francis Atwoli, COTU asked President Ruto to consider the plight of workers, especially, their remunerations.
However, Ruto asked the COTU boss to re-focus his attention on initiatives that are geared towards job creation.
“Your success cannot be measured only through the increase in salaries. “We should work together to create synergy and ease resolution of labour-related issues," Ruto noted.
The Head of State also took note of the effort made by COTU in rallying its membership toward the new savings model initiated by his government.
Ruto promised to ensure that millions of Kenyan youth are placed in the job market, and well remunerated with good salaries.
Part of the discussion that took place at State House, Nairobi was also centered around the importance of unions in driving policy-making changes in Kenya.
A court ruling gave a clean bill of health to the new National Social Security Fund (NSSF) contributions from Ksh200 to Ksh2,160, which was welcomed by COTU during the meeting with Ruto.
The organization's officials were further asked to create systems and structures that promote equality and inclusive socio-economic developments in the country.
At the same time, the meeting highlighted the welfare of workers where the leaders agreed that both the state and unions will develop mechanisms that will improve the living standards of Kenyan employees.
The COTU boss further asked President Ruto to caution employers who are exploiting their employees.
“We cannot move forward as a country when we engage in retrogressive politics,” Atwoli noted.
