Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU)- Kenya Secretary General Francis Atwoli has hit out at Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa in a strongly-worded public statement.
Atwoli, while however noting that COTU has no control over Safaricom’s management style, faulted Mr. Ndegwa for allegedly asking a majority of the company’s over 6,000 employees to reapply for their current jobs.
According to him, the move is inhuman, goes against ILO Conventions on the protection of jobs, and is an affront to workers’ rights.
Atwoli further claimed that Mr. Ndegwa, while serving as CEO for Guinness Nigeria PLC, faced off with unions from West Africa when he allegedly reduced the workforce by 45%.
He accused the Safaricom CEO of causing depression among its employees in a bid to maximize profit.
“…if Mr. Ndegwa doesn’t stop this forthwith, we appeal to the Board of Directors at Safaricom PLC, including other shareholders, to make sure that Mr. Ndegwa is relieved of his duties because of his poor managerial style that seeks to maximize profits at the expense of its employees,” he stated.
NOTES
– The telecommunications giant seeks to break the hierarchical structure whilst doing away with some of its employees
– Following the mover, the Francis Atwoli led union expressed concerns about the prospects of job security of the workers
– The trade union demanded Ndegwa to abort his mission, which it claimed was causing anguish, despair, and depression among its employees
This new move by Safaricom Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Ndegwa is not acceptable and remains an affront to workers’ rights. It is insensitive and inhuman for Ndegwa to bring about drastic changes at Safaricom while infringing the rights of workers who have built the company to what it is today,” read the union’s statement in part.
It is unacceptable for Safaricom to come up with new models of management that would end up affecting the lives and livelihoods of many. As @COTU_K we are opposed to such models considering they go against ILO conventions on protection of jobs. pic.twitter.com/fYHRiSMQSi
— Francis Atwoli NOM (DZA), CBS, EBS, MBS. (@AtwoliDza) April 25, 2021
“It has come to our attention that Safaricom PLC is on a mission to restructure its mode of management whilst at the same time doing away with some of its employees. Even though, as COTU (K), we don’t have control over the management style employers adopt from time to time, we are highly concerned about the prospects of job security with the implementation of certain management styles,” said Atwoli.
“As reported in one of the local dailies today, the new CEO of Safaricom PLC Mr. Peter Ndegwa has caused a lot of anxiety among its more than 6,000 employees by asking a majority of them to reapply for their current jobs. It’s insensitive and inhuman, for Mr. Ndegwa, to bring about drastic changes at Safaricom PLC while infringing on the rights of workers who have built Safaricom to what it is today where it enjoys more than 30 million subscribers.”
