SGR workers in protest over delayed salaries
Pay for workers hired by the Chinese firm operating the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR passenger trains have delayed, threatening smooth operations of the service.
The workers on Thursday protested at the offices of China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) in Syokimau and threatened to down tools next week.
The employees, who have not been given contracts since April, said their July salaries had been delayed.
The Chinese firm on Thursday blamed the delay on the refurbishment of its salary payment system and reviewing of bank account details of staff hired in June and July.
“Our company is debugging the salary system, all information input and salary calculation depend on manual calculations at present,” said CRBC in a statement on Thursday.
“Because the newly added Kenyan staff are numerous, their personal bank account information collection needs a great deal of time,” said the firm.
CRBC said that it wired money to the workers’s accounts on Wednesday.
The workers were yet to receive the pay by Thursday evening.
The more than 300 Kenyan workers have no contracts, leaving them without legal protection.