Sacked workers of Italia Space Agency move to court

Satellite dishes at Luigi Broglio Space Centre at Ngomeni village in Magarini Sub-County, Kilifi County. [Nehemiah Okwembah, Standard]

At least fourteen former employees of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in Magarini Sub-County, Kilifi County, have moved to court, accusing the agency and its labour contractor of unlawful and unfair termination of employment.

The workers claim that the dismissals were unprocedural and have left them in severe financial distress, especially after the employer signed disclosure forms to facilitate bank loans shortly before sending them home.

Speaking to journalists in Malindi town after filing the suit, six of the axed workers’ representatives said that the disclosure forms indicated that they would retire at the mandatory age of 60, and that they were granted long-term loans based on that information.

Mr John Randu said, “One month after I got a loan, the employer issued me a termination letter, leaving me with no source of income to service the loan and my guarantors in distress as they have to repay the loan.”

Court documents filed at the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Malindi show that the plaintiffs, who claim to have been long-serving workers at the agency based within the San Marco Broglio Space Centre in Ngomeni, Magarini Sub-County, are suing ASI and its labour contractor, GRASI S.CA.R.L Branch of Kenya, for unfair dismissal.

The employees, some of whom had served the agency for more than two decades, say that their employment contracts were abruptly terminated in December 2024 without valid reasons, adequate notice, or adherence to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that governed their contracts.

They are now asking the court to declare that the termination of their services by the respondents was unlawful, unfair, and unprocedural, and order the payment of terminal dues of between Sh1.4 million and Sh2.4 million to the former employees according to the number of years in service.

They are also asking the court to award them general damages for breach of legitimate expectations and breach of contract, punitive and general damages for pain and suffering as a result of the alleged breach of contract, as well as costs and interest.

Each of the fourteen former workers has sued the space agency separately, claiming that an earlier attempt to jointly sue their former employer had been rendered nugatory after some of the workers were allegedly compromised and pulled out of the suit.

The plaintiffs, who spoke to journalists in Malindi town on Tuesday, claimed that they had also been forced to change lawyers twice after the initial advocates were also compromised by the respondents.