NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya Union of Commercial, Food and Allied Workers (Kucfaw) and Nakumatt Supermarkets have signed a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that will see the retail chain’s 4,500 unionisable employees take home a 22 per cent salary increase.
According to the officials of the union, the collective bargaining agreement was a long time in coming and is bound to improve the living conditions of the workers.
“The cost of living is currently very high and our members have complained about their earnings remaining the same even in light of the tough times,” stated Boniface Kavuvi, the secretary general of the workers’ union.
The new deal states that all Nakumatt unionisabe employees as at April 30, 2014 shall receive a wage increase of 12 per cent to cover the first year and an increase of 10 per cent to cover the second year.
The basic wage for new employees exclusive of house allowance has now been pegged at Sh10,000 with the highest paid employees taking home Sh22,321.
Employees who are not provided with free accommodation will be given an additional 15 per cent of their basic pay plus Sh3,000.
The agreement comes at a time when the country’s retail sector is facing aggressive competition, with the traditional players expanding their reach while new entrants are angling for a stake in the lucrative sector.
However, labour relations in supermarkets and particularly earnings for workers have always been a tough nut to crack in the major stores, leading to heavy losses from industrial action in some cases.
Last year, on the last weekend before Christmas, holiday shoppers in Kenya woke up to find doors to one supermarket chain across the country closed. Staff members at the retail store had timed the busiest weekend to down their tools countrywide, refusing to resume their duties until their demands were met.
The Supermarket remained closed across all the 45 branches countrywide leading to millions of shillings in losses in terms of foregone revenue. According to Mr Kavuvi, a number of supermarket chains in the country are wary of their members joining unions because of tight ownership controls.
The union currently has cases at the industrial court with Tusky’s, Naivas and Ukwala supermarkets. Mr Kavuvi, however, states that the tide is slowly changing among retailers and conditions of working for workers are improving though not quickly enough.
“We have CBAs that we are negotiating with Uchumi and Chandarana Supermarkets and these are going on well and we are confident that workers will see their fortunes improve with time,” he said.
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