Trade unionist collapses and dies - RIP

Union and labour officials in Moi Stadium in Kisumu to mark the Labour Day celebrations were on Saturday grief-stricken after Mr Rao Cheche, the western Kenya branch secretary of Commercial Food and Allied Workers’ Union, collapsed while addressing workers. Mr Cheche later died in hospital. Photo/JACOB OWITI

KiN Reports
A trade unionist collapsed and died as he addressed workers’ in Kisumu’s Moi Stadium on Saturday.

Mr. Rao Cheche, the western Kenya branch secretary of Commercial Food and Allied Workers’ Union, was pronounced dead on arrival at the New Nyanza General Provincial Hospital where he had been taken by boy scouts.

Kisumu district commissioner Mabeya Mogaka said Mr Cheche was addressing workers when he collapsed.

The DC announced Mr Cheche’s death in the course of the meeting and asked workers to observe a minute’s silence in his honour.

The incident marred the sense of occasion as workers turned out at different venues to mark Labour Day. Unionists used the event to put employers and government officials on the spot over how they handle workers’ welfare issues.

At Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium, Labour ministry officials were accused of colluding with employers to deny workers their rights.

The deputy general secretary of the Kenya Plantation Workers Union, Mr Thomas Kipkemboi, said that workers had lost faith in the Ministry of Labour as an impartial arbitrator between workers and their employers.

He appealed to the government to enforce regulations that require businesses to be closed during the celebrations to allow as many Kenyans as possible to join in commemorating the day.
Workers from a local sisal factory had an axe to grind with their employer whom they accused of not paying them salary arrears in excess of Sh150 million.

They also said that the employer had failed to remit their contributions to the National Social Security Fund yet the amount was deducted from their pay.

Rift Valley Deputy Provincial Commissioner John Ayienda said that he would summon the factory officials.

In Mombasa, the celebrations were marked with a low turnout at the municipal stadium. Area MPs and councillors also kept off.

Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) Coast secretary general Gideon Mutiso warned that they will present a list of employers who do not want their employees to join trade unions.
“If the employers are tired of staying in the country they should leave,” said Mr Mutiso adding that some employers sack workers for joining the unions.

Some of the complaints raised during the celebrations include confiscation of national identity cards of workers by their employers. Provincial labour officer Mr Francis Okello promised to act on the problems raised by the workers.

Courtesy: Sunday Nation