Sony Sugar workers strike demanding salary arrears

More than 2,000 Sony company employees on April 1, 2019 demonstrate while demanding more than Sh100 million unpaid salaries. [Caleb King'wara]

Employees of the cash strapped Sony Sugar Company started a strike which the miller termed as illegal.

The more than 2,000 workers held a demonstration in Awendo demanding close to Sh100 million in salary arrears.

"We are officially on strike as from today (yesterday) and all workers, whether on contract or permanent be informed that you will only return to work, when the management pays," Kenya Union of Sugarcane Plantation and Allied workers Deputy Secretary General John Otieno Ogutu said.

The more than 2,000 workers reported in the morning and closed offices of senior managers including those of Managing Director Bernard Otieno, finance boss Peter Otieno and Board Chairman Owino Likowa.

They camped outside the offices and the gate leading to the MD’s office for hours chanting "No cash! No pay! No work!"

Mr Ogutu told journalists that they issued the management with a strike notice two weeks ago warning of industrial action if the notice expired before they were paid.

In response to the notice, Mr Otieno declared the strike illegal. Consequently, the MD issued a memo warning employees against participating in the strike.

He said they had read the issues raised by the union, but they were not convinced they warranted a strike. Otieno added that they were working hard to ensure the workers get paid.

"We are aware of the delay, which has been informed by our erratic reduction in cane supply. The company’s fields had been invaded by rival millers poaching our cane," he said.

Otieno disclosed that they had lost close to Sh2 billion invested in cane development, adding that no industry can survive without sufficient raw material. "Cane poaching is the biggest threat to Sony Sugar. It hampers cane development. Cane yields and content depends on the timely provision of cane seedlings, fertilisers, herbicides and others," he said.

Farmers do not have the capital to do this and have to rely on Sony Sugar for inputs, meaning if the supply chain is affected then the entire sugar value chain is also grossly affected, he added.

The protesting workers burnt an effigy of the MD at the factory’s precincts. Operations at the miller remained paralysed as the employees closed offices to ensure no work was going on. Farmers, who are also demanding payment , joined the protest.