This archive report was first published on 27 December 2019.
On December 27, 2019, a labour dispute halted the merger of Quickmart and Tumaini supermarkets in Kenya, with the labour court stopping the firms from laying off employees.
The Employment and Labour Relations Court ordered Tumaini and QuickMart to find ways to integrate the 447 employees from both entities pending further court orders and an inter-parties hearing slated for January 22, 2020.
The court also ordered the companies not to victimise any of their employees on the account of being union members, in response to an application for order filed by the Kenya Union of Commercial Food and Allied Workers (KUCFAW).
The merger aims to form a single retail operation, with Tumaini and QuickMart set to make a stronger presence in Kenya's competitive formal retail space.
However, fears of job losses have been raised, with the union seeking to ensure that employees continue to be assigned duties until the court delivers further orders.
