Giant Kenyan Media Group’s Journalists Down Tools Demanding Upto A Year’s Wages
Employees of Standard Media Group downed tools on Wednesday afternoon, demanding that the media company pay their salary arrears in full.
According to a source familiar with the situation, the workforce went on strike at 12:30 p.m., causing the station’s 1:00 p.m. bulletin to be delayed.
Our source confirmed that approximately 40 people attended a meeting held at Green Park Grounds inside Standard Media Group’s Mombasa Road headquarters.
During the meeting, the employees reportedly decided to visit each office and remove everyone from their workstations.
Standard Media employees have downed their tools. Most of them are journalists who have not been paid for months. pic.twitter.com/2AHzlXp4Eu
— Marvin, WordSmith ✍🏽 (@MarvinGakunyi) July 17, 2024
“The team started at KTN Home, moved to the HR office then to convergence newsroom then to output, and eventually to radio and TV studios,” our source revealed.
In the process, they interrupted a live bulletin hosted by Jesse Rodgers, forcing the news anchor to take a short break at around 1:07 pm after presenting only one news item.
The bulletin did not resume following that. According to our source, the employees want all of their payments settled in full and arrears cleared.
According to a statement, the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) plans to stay away from work and peacefully picket outside the nearest workstation beginning at midnight tonight.
The protest comes after an earlier one on Thursday, July 4, when radio employees from Radio Maisha, Spice FM, Berur FM, and Vybez Radio went on strike over salary arrears dating back to June 2023.
“The 14-day notice elapses today at midnight, paving the way for all staff at Standard Group PLC to commence the strike to fight for their rights in accordance with Article 41 of the Constitution,” KUJ directed its members who work at the station.
“Staff are hereby urged to stay away from work and peacefully picket outside the nearest work station to demand payment of accumulated salary arrears and remittance of Sacco funds deducted from their salaries over the past two years.
“These are our irreducible minimum and the strike will continue until they are addressed. Solidarity forever!”
During the July protests, the presenters staged a walkout from their respective workstations, gathering at the staff cafeteria at 7:00 a.m.
All radio stations were left playing music without a presenter on air as they demanded that management honour their contractual agreements.
Days earlier, the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) had given the media house 14 days to meet four demands, failing which it threatened to shut down operations completely.
The four demands were to settle 7-month salary arrears, provide Sacco savings contributed by employees, and remove a medical claims cap.
The union also requested that the station stop capturing biometric data from employees in order to enforce a new reporting time directive.
“For seven months now, staff at the Standard Group PLC, the oldest media house in this part of the world, have gone through untold sufferings due to unpaid salaries despite hard economic times in the country,” Eric Oduor, KUJ Secretary General, told the press at the time.
Giant Kenyan Media Group’s Journalists Down Tools Demanding Upto A Year’s Wages
