Nakumatt employees demonstrate over delayed pay

Nakumatt Holding's employee's from both Nyanza and Mega City Outlets in Kisumu stage a combined demonstration outside the Mega City Mall on the Nairobi-Kisumu Road on August 1, 2017,

KISUMU, KENYA: Employees of cash strapped Nakumatt Supermarket chains appeared headed for deeper troubles after employees of two of its largest branches in Nyanza, boycotted work over delayed salaries.

The more than 250  employees  at the Namumatt Mega City  and Nakumatt Nyanza -both in Kisumu claimed they have not been paid  for three  months and were unable to meet  their financial needs, including feeding their families. Also affected was the Kisii branch.

They did not, however, picket at the retail outlets as planned out of fear of confrontation with the police after a memo, seeking to stop the demo came out on Monday.

They added that their employer had also failed to remit their health covers to the National Health Insurance Fund, as well as their savings to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and various Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (Saccos)

"Some of us have been locked out of our houses and others issued with eviction notices because we are not able to pay rent where we live. We can barely afford a decent meal for our families anymore because we cannot even borrow from the Saccos due to lack of remittances," said Paul Odhong', a leader of the shop stewards.

He said even getting to work has become difficult because they cannot afford fare to and from the two outlets in the central business district and Nyalenda.

A number of them expressed concerns that they may not be able to participate in next week's election because they are unable to travel home.

The workers are also rooting for an 11 per cent wage increment negotiated with Nakumatt under their umbrella union.