The strike by workers at government-owned sugar manufacturing plants across the country has been called off after the Ministry of Agriculture agreed to pay 1 billion shillings within two weeks to clear part of the outstanding salary and benefits arrears.
The strike began on January 29 and paralyzed activities at Muhoroni, Nzoia, Sony, and Chemelil sugar plants. The workers were demanding outstanding salary and benefits arrears amounting to 10.8 billion shillings for current and former workers.
The decision to call of the strike came after meeting at Kilimo House on Monday, between Ministry of Agriculture and the Kenya Union of Sugar Plantation and Allied Workers (KUSPAW)agreed on 1 billion shillings payment within 14 days to clear part of the outstanding salary and benefits arrears for workers at government-owned sugar manufacturing plants.
The outstanding balance of 9 billion shillings will be financed through a supplementary budget once approved by parliament.
The Agriculture CS stated that the government had a role to play in ensuring that the debt is cleared, saying that the debt does not belong to private entities but to the state. “We, as the Government, accept responsibility for these debts. We will urge Parliament to resolve this via the Supplementary Budget to stabilize the sugar sector once and for all,” he stated.
It should be noted that private entities were not part of the issue.
Although the workers have returned to work, there were other issues raised by KUSPAW, such as delayed payment of union dues, poor working conditions at some of the mills, failure to meet transition agreements, and intimidation of union officials.
The union stated that they will continue to pressure the government to address some of the problems facing sugar workers.