Auctioneers on Wednesday, June 7, raided Seth Panyako's Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) office located in Nairobi over unpaid dues.
The trade union was served a court order allowing the auctioneers to take and resell their property over unpaid dues reportedly owed to a businessman.
Auctioneers who spoke to Kenyans.co.ke explained that the raid was not successful because KNUN negotiated their way out by making a financial deposit.
They, however, vowed to return to court on behalf of their client and obtain another warrant should the trade union default.
The team had attached property worth Ksh3.4 million, including motor vehicles, office stationary and electronics such as printers.
Court documents indicated that a former member filed a suit against the trade union seeking Ksh2 million for wrongful dismissal.
He filed a suit against KNUN on March 6, 2020, claiming that the trade union continuously failed to protect his rights and interests by issuing him with a membership number.
The former employee further claimed that KNUN acted in utmost bad faith by siding with his former employer, Uasin Gishu County, which had terminated his contract on the basis that he was not a registered nurse.
As a result of the foregoing matters, the complainant claimed that KNUN owed him a duty to the protection of his rights and interest as a member of the union and national chairperson to the National Executive Council of the union.
After careful evaluation of the case, the court ruled that the complainant raised pertinent issues regarding his employment status.
"As regards the prayer for monthly allowances, I see no reason for denying the claimant the unpaid sum of Ksh85,000 per month from June 2017 to the day he lost his employment and his position as the chairman of the respondent's NEC. He did not state when he lost his job after the union wrote the letter dated July 3, 2019.
"I will treat the termination date as July 3, 2019, and award the claimant the arrears of his allowances up to that date being 24 months Ksh85,000 equaling Ksh2,040,000. In conclusion, I enter judgment for the claimant in the sum of Ksh2,340,000 subject to statutory deductions. The claimant will have costs plus interest at court rates from the date hereof," read part of the judgment.
The complainant, who won the case against the trade union, argued that KNUN stopped, without any explanation, remitting his monthly allowance of Ksh80,000 and airtime allowance of Ksh5,000 beginning the month of June 2017.
