By Michael Wesonga

Workers of civic authorities have taken their pay dispute with the Government to the Industrial Court.They have referred the case to the court through the Kenya Local Government Workers Union (KLGWU).

Speaking to The Standard yesterday, the KLGWU Nairobi Branch Secretary Festus Ngare said they had subsequently instructed their members to resume duty as they await the court’s outcome.

Mr Ngare said they called off the strike because they had faith in the alternative dispute resolution mechanism sought. He said the union took the court way after the Local Government PS Karega Mutahi skipped arbitration talks to resolve the pay dispute.

“The PS evaded arbitration talks with the Labour ministry arguing that he had not seen the invitation letter at his office,” said Ngare on telephone.

He said their decision to go to court was done without reference to the PS.

“The move was necessary after the Commissioner of Labour felt the PS was dilly-dallying with a serious matter of investigation and conciliation,” added Ngare. The industrial court is expected to deliver a full report after one to two days after the union and Federation of Kenya Employers make their submissions.

The union’s National Chairperson Mary Murongoro had earlier in the week intimated that they would not relent in their quest to have their demands met.

They demanded that a collective bargaining agreement signed between them and the Association of Local Government Employers on October 12, last year, must be implemented by the Government to raise their pay.

Bone Of Contention

This will see the lowest cadre of employees receive a 36 per cent increment and 30 per cent for the upper cadre in addition to Sh5,000 house allowance across board.

Ngare said their bone of contention was that Local Government Minister Paul Otuoma was reluctant to approve a supplementary budget for this increment without giving a convincing reason.

“The pay increments were not factored in the budget, but the minister can introduce a supplementary budget, which is allowed in law, but he has refused to,” he added.

The workers fear the CBA will expire with the entry of a new government ushering in the new constitutional dispensation.

Ngare said they would no longer be answerable to mayors but boards appointed by governors and the timelines for implementation of the CBA would have expired.

On the other hand the Salaries and Remunerations Commission will be expected to carry out job evaluation and salary harmonisation in the entire public sector work force.

The development came as Town Clerks across the country continued grappling with paralysis in routine service delivery in the wake of a striking workforce. The workers have been on a national strike since Monday.

The strike has stifled the councils’ revenue collection capacity in North Rift as residents enjoyed free services.

Eldoret Town Clerk Stanislaus Ondimu said the strike put them in a difficult situation as services had ground to a halt.

“There is no garbage collection reducing the town to a total mess, no revenue collection, no parking fees and lack of by-laws enforcement,” said Mr Ondimu.

He said the council had lost about Sh500,000 daily revenues since Monday.

Ondimu, however, noted that almost a half of the workforce had resumed duty following deliberations by the Labour ministry and that of Local Government.

“The recently constituted working committees are working efficiently but this does not mean that they will stop the strike,” he said.