Port workers seek better wages, working conditions

Port worker. [iStockphoto]

Private workers at the port of Mombasa have moved to court demanding better terms and condition of service.

Some 47 petitioners who are engaged by ship contractors to work on ships and quayside have sued their employers, Kenya Ships Contractors Association (KSCA) and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and other government institutions claiming they were being paid peanuts contrary to what was provided for under the KPA tariff of 2012.

The stevedores complained that they were subjected to a shift of 12 hours instead of eight hours a day and paid Sh350 or less without allowances.

In his supporting affidavit, a petitioner Hillary Nayweni, said he has been engaged as a stevedore since 2016 by Geo Wave Ship Contractor which is a member of the KSCA.

Mr Nayweni stated that KSCA has never deducted from stevedores wages, topped up a proportionate sum and remitted it to National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) for health cover.

He averred that KSCA has equally refused to remit deduction to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), exposing him to financial insecurity in old age.

Nayweni who has sworn the affidavit on behalf of the other petitioners, noted that KPA has developed a tariff to levy charges on shipping lines, importers and exporters using Mombasa but still, workers wallow in poor pay.

In his replying affidavit, KSCA National Chairman Richard Jeffwa said the Competition Authority of Kenya gazetted the common minimum tariffs for employees of his association on February 1, 2019, following a series of consultative meetings with stakeholders but this was not implemented because of a lack of goodwill.

"There has been never goodwill in implementing these tariffs to improve the minimum wage for the petitioners," he asserted.