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Kenya: Win for Knun As Court Orders Murang’a to Pay Sh765,000

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4 years ago

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A court has barred the Council of Governors (CoG) from interfering with engagements between the Kenya National Union of Nurses and county governments.

According to a judgement issued by Justice Njagi Marete of the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nyeri, the CoG lacks the mandate to issue any directives to County Public Service Boards on issues concerning nurses.

In a suit between KNUN and Murang’a, as well as its Public Service Board, the judge found that the CoG did not have the right to order the county employer to stop KNUN’s statutory deductions.

He quashed a circular issued by the CoG, dated February 15, 2019, ordering all county employers to stop deducting and remitting the Sh500 union fee from each of their employees’ salaries.

Justice Marete ordered Murang’a to pay Sh765,000 in dues accrued between March and October 2018, as well as a Sh2.4 million debt accrued from January 2019.

Murang’a had stopped remitting the statutory fees directly to trade unions, paying nurses’ salaries in full instead, an action which Justice Marete ruled was against the Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) signed by county governments and KNUN.

What CBA states

According to the CBA, devolved units with more than five employees who are members of the trade union should deduct and remit Sh500 as the monthly membership fee.

County governments should also remit another Sh150 deducted from each employee, payable to the Central Organization of Trade Unions (Cotu).