Another flower farm sacks 500 workers in Naivasha

A Naivasha-based flower farm has sacked 530 employees under unclear circumstances.

Kongoni River Farm, owned by Veg-Pro Ltd, is said to have sacked the workers for demanding pay-slips.

This came as reports emerged the firm defied a court order that barred it from sacking them until a petition by the workers is heard and determined.

The management is said to have hired new employees immediately to replace the sacked ones.

One of the affected employees said the management had said it would send them the pay-slips through their emails but they rejected the move because most of them have no email accounts.

"Other than the fact most of us have no email accounts, we also don't want to incur the cost of cyber cafes as we don't earn much," said one of the workers.

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Last year, Karuturi flower farm sacked 3,000 employees after it was put under receivership while another farm, Oserian Ltd, declared 400 workers redundant.

Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union Naivasha secretary general Ferdinand Juma termed the sackings illegal.

"We will be going to court to seek more orders to have the workers reinstated," said Juma.