The dispute in Nairobi’s Eastleigh centres on casual workers who say the market has been flooded by labourers from Uganda and Kakuma refugee camps.
Women in the area told Ghetto Radio News that the new entrants have undercut local rates and reduced the amount of work available. Jane Atieno, one of the casual labourers, said the lower charges were hurting business for Kenyan women who depend on day work in the estate.
Atieno said some of the foreign workers were accepting as little as 100 shillings for a full day’s work, a price she said was making it harder for others to find jobs. She argued that the competition was driving down earnings in a market already built on informal, low-paid labour.
She also complained about the treatment some workers receive from Eastleigh employers, saying they are sometimes sent to do what she described as strange and inhumane tasks, including washing snakes and dead bodies.
