PHOTO CAPTION: Jubilee Insurance House along Wabera Street in Nairobi. Disgruntled employees have accused Jubilee Insurance and Jubilee Allianz General Insurance of refusing to sign the negotiated Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for registration and implementation.
This, they say, is after numerous unsuccessful attempts by the Banking and Insurance Finance Union (BIFU) to sit down with them and negotiate, resulting in the registration of a trade dispute between BIFU and Jubilee Insurance/Jubilee Allianz General Insurance at the Ministry of Labour, where a conciliator was appointed to have both sides negotiate and resolve the dispute.
According to a reliable source, following the interventions by the conciliator, BIFU, Jubilee Insurance and Jubilee Allianz General Insurance finally held negotiations on the 6th of July 2022 where they agreed on a 7% salary, house allowance and leave allowance increment to be back-dated from January 2021.
The new CBA was drafted and presented to Jubilee Insurance company for signing on 7th October 2022.
Since then, Jubilee Insurance has reportedly declined to forward the signed copies of the CBA for registration and implementation, despite several reminders sent asking them to do so.
Instead, they have resulted in arm-twisting the union staff members into giving up their union membership and having their arrears paid in return, which goes against the employment act of 2007 that; “No Person Should give an advantage or promise to give an advantage to an employee in exchange for the person not exercising any right conferred by this act”. This has forced a few employees to give up their membership to have their arrears paid due to the financial challenges they are facing. “Hi, Cyprian. Kindly Highlight the predicaments of Jubilee Insurance Union employees. Jubilee Insurance and Jubilee Allianz general insurance are taking advantage of their employees' financial situation, with the hope that more members will give up their membership and have their arrears paid and render these employees voiceless in return. Jubilee Allianz Insurance has even gone a step further by threatening union employees that their medical coverage will not be renewed after the current one expires in December. This is despite the fact that union members have their medical cover provided for in the CBA, and a CBA remains active until a new one is signed. This has left BIFU with no other option other than to file a trade dispute at the Labour Court for Jubilee Insurance to be compelled to sign the CBA and pay the union members their arrears without coercing them into giving up their union membership after taking them on a wild goose chase. Jubilee Insurance claims to be a member of the Blue Company, but these acts of violating employees' rights, intimidation, and threats speak to the contrary,” the source laments.