The country is staring at a blackout after staff at the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) threatened to go on strike over a planned retrenchment.
Through the Kenya Electrical Trades and Allied Workers Union (KETAWU), the employees have opposed plans to lay off about 20% of the workforce.
According to reports, KPLC termed the planned retrenchment as “phasing-off its aging population”.
KPLC had announced in January that it will embark on the retrenchment exercise from May 2022 in a bid to reduce its salary expenditure.
Kenya Power acting CEO Rosemary Oduor, stated that the agency intends to send home about 1,900 employees and replace them with 830 new younger personnel at a relatively lower cost.
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“The company, because of low attrition rate, has an ageing and expensive workforce resulting in staff cost growing at nearly twice the rate of revenue growth… In an environment where low operational costs and agility are critical requirements, productivity and quality of service have been negatively impacted,” an internal memo released by Oduor in January 2022 read in part.
Through KETAWU, Kenya Power employees have called for cancellation of the planned retrenchment exercise, arguing that they were neither consulted nor involved in the said restructuring exercise.
“The management is hereby advised to withdraw its proposal dated January 24, 2022, to pre-empt massive withdrawal of labour or otherwise until the constitutional rights of workers are respected and actualised,” Ketawu Secretary-General Ernest Nadome was quoted by Business Daily.
A strike at KPLC would most likely lead to a blackout crisis in the country as it is the only power supplier in the country.
