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- Aug 5, 2011
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May. 03, 2018, 12:30 am
By GEORGE MURAGE
Over 5,000 flower farm workers have lost their jobs in Naivasha alone in the last on year according to the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union.
The union said farmers were now turning to seasonal workers a move they termed as illegal.
This comes barely a month after Oserian flower farm sent home over 2,500 workers as part of ongoing restructuring in the institution.
Ferdinand Juma the KPAWU secretary-general Naivasha branch said farmers were giving conflicting reasons over the job losses, after introducing a new system of hiring workers on six months contract as one way of reducing wage bill.
Juma said seasonal workers were not entitled to a pay rise and other benefits which were awarded to permanent employees.
“We have seen cases where investors are employing workers on seasonal basis meaning that they cannot get the annual pay rise per labour laws,” he said.
Juma said that they were eagerly waiting for the issue of Sher Karuturi to be resolved after the owner found an investor to help clear the pending bank debt.
“We saw reports a month ago that there was an investor who was keen to bail out the farm and we are hopeful that this will materialize as these workers have undergone through untold suffering,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the CEO Kenya Flower Council (KFC) Clement Tulezi identified poor infrastructure as one of the major challenges flower farmers were undergoing due to the current rains.
He added that double taxation by national and county governments were also a thorn in the fresh for the farmers who were incurring huge expenses due to the crisis.
Tulezi called on the two arms of government to harmonize the taxes and challenged the national government to give farmers tax incentives as it had done to the ministry of tourism.
Contracts raise concern as job losses rise in flower farms
By GEORGE MURAGE
Over 5,000 flower farm workers have lost their jobs in Naivasha alone in the last on year according to the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union.
The union said farmers were now turning to seasonal workers a move they termed as illegal.
This comes barely a month after Oserian flower farm sent home over 2,500 workers as part of ongoing restructuring in the institution.
Ferdinand Juma the KPAWU secretary-general Naivasha branch said farmers were giving conflicting reasons over the job losses, after introducing a new system of hiring workers on six months contract as one way of reducing wage bill.
Juma said seasonal workers were not entitled to a pay rise and other benefits which were awarded to permanent employees.
“We have seen cases where investors are employing workers on seasonal basis meaning that they cannot get the annual pay rise per labour laws,” he said.
Juma said that they were eagerly waiting for the issue of Sher Karuturi to be resolved after the owner found an investor to help clear the pending bank debt.
“We saw reports a month ago that there was an investor who was keen to bail out the farm and we are hopeful that this will materialize as these workers have undergone through untold suffering,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the CEO Kenya Flower Council (KFC) Clement Tulezi identified poor infrastructure as one of the major challenges flower farmers were undergoing due to the current rains.
He added that double taxation by national and county governments were also a thorn in the fresh for the farmers who were incurring huge expenses due to the crisis.
Tulezi called on the two arms of government to harmonize the taxes and challenged the national government to give farmers tax incentives as it had done to the ministry of tourism.
Contracts raise concern as job losses rise in flower farms
