Sanjay Brahmbhatt, Group Managing Director, Blowplast Ltd, Kenya
After we published the response by Blowplast management to Cyprian Nyakundi, read it by clicking here ; the staff have written back to us, they want the management to deal with the following issues and stop intimidating them.
Blowplast Limited was exposed for worker mistreatment in our series, Slavery In Kenya.
The series is unending and will continue as long as the wankers at the Labour Ministry, Immigration department and DCI continue sitting enjoying bribes to not prosecute those who flout employment rules.
More firms will be exposed in the coming weeks.
Mistreatment of Kenyan workers must end. There’s no way companies including multinationals can continue perpetrating injustice on Kenyans because they know they have somehow supported the criminal regimes that don’t ask questions.
These exposes is the movement of the people, a movement of the people that will sweep away the unjust like the Tsunami.
This country must be run properly, WE ARE DOCUMENTING for future law-abiding leadership that shall REVISIT these ills and correct them. Beneath it all, we are trying to engender a social conscience. There are many wrongs in Kenya which needs attention. There are many people who are oppressed and need help. And we have a responsibility to them and to this country. There is discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. - Robert Francis Kennedy, US Attorney General and Democract Mr. Sanjay and company, honor the 9 demands of your employees below. Hi Nyakundi, We hereby categorically state that the respondent in your e-mail is somebody's sympathizer who can't address our grievances and therefore we unanimously decide that dust from a dashing squirrel will not make us lose sight of an injured, escaping antelope. We, as the Blowplast workers, request that the following summarized areas be addressed as soon as possible by the relevant authorities i.e. the Blowplast management and relevant government agencies. INSURANCE Our main question is, "Is insurance cover only limited to medical bills while forfeiting compensation?" In most cases, many injured employees in Blowplast Ltd feel the pinch during the recovery process.
i). Mostly, the injured employees cater for their own transport to the Avenue Hospitals during medical follow-ups.
ii). No injured employee is compensated until he/she sues the company, a decision which is a guarantee for immediate dismissal from employment. Most reported legal cases are thereafter paid for. Why can't one be compensated while working? We smell a rat between the company and the responsible insurance firm.
iii). If your area of service is sensitive (supervisor, electrician), and you are injured, the Company colludes with the medical officers at Avenue Hospital to minimize your sick off days so as to report on duty as soon as possible even if you are not fully recovered. TRADE UNION Is a crime for any employee to join any relevant trade union? In Blowplast Ltd, it is a taboo to talk about let alone joining the union. In fact, if your adversaries at work want to terminate you from the company, a simple and easy way to do is to just report that you are campaigning for employees to join the trade union. BANKING SERVICES. Why should all Blowplast Ltd employees be forced to have their salary accounts in one Indian originated bank by the name Guaranty Trust Bank formerly known as Fina Bank. The said bank's services are below the bar compared to other banks in Kenya. Our view on this is that we should be given a chance to be paid through our salary accounts in the banks of our choice so as to enjoy other benefits/ services that are not offered by GT bank. SALARY DISCRIMINATION Why do we have basic salary and house allowances imbalance for the employees working under the same department, same job description for the same working hours? e.g.
a). All female employees in the production department are paid less than their male counterparts.
b). The watchmen in the two Blowplast Ltd branches are paid differently.
c). Supervisors, Qcs, maintenance team, electricians, e.t.c. are all paid depending on one's fortunes but you must bear the same responsibility and accountability in case of a mess.
d). Some few individuals' salary is better compared to the rest in a similar position. PROMOTIONS. We are dismayed on how promotions are conducted in Blowplast Ltd:
a). All employees are not subjected to equal promotion opportunities. Promotions are driven by tribalism, nepotism, bribery, gender, your referee...e.g. 60% of senior employees are from the same ethnic group not by virtue of performance or ability but by where do you come from, who brought you, how much do you have...which should not be the case.
b). Some promotions are weird. How can one be promoted to a position that he/ she cannot get the right salary for that position for 1-2-3 years? You are promoted, hold accountable for that post, but your salary remains the same or even drops for an uncertain period of time? For example: One is promoted to the position that he/ she works for the day shift only. The basic salary and house allowance remains the same bearing in mind that the night shift overtime pay one has been getting is over. Then you work for an only God knows period of time for your right pay rise. This is inhumane.
N/B: Some promotional pay rise are effected immediately depending on 5 a above. OVERTIME HOURS. This being the essence of all miseries as earlier perceived, in Blowplast Ltd, no matter how long you work, your overtime hours are subject to:
a). reduction by 8 hours daily for any day you don't work for any reason, for permanent employees;
b). fixed to a maximum 2 hours per day shift (7.00 a.m - 6.00p.m) and a maximum of 5 hours per night shift (6.00p.m - 7.00a.m )worked. Any extra hours beyond these are not paid for even when you are requested by your seniors to complete a bending task before you leave.
N/B: Sunday should be treated as an holiday and therefore the pay should be double. DISCIPLINE We accept appropriate disciplinary measures that may be taken in accordance with the law. But how do you describe these;
a). Two employees commit the same offence for the first time. One is given a verbal warning while the other one is suspended or even terminated;
b). You have an emergency that compels you to be out of the company. You are forced to go with a written letter to seek for permission before attending to your emergency case, failure to which a disciplinary action is taken. Some employees are not subjected to these depending on who you are in the company.
c). Its a norm for some Indian employees to call Africans names like "Benjoon" while on duty especially those working in dispatch areas. The meaning is only known to them. This is unacceptable.
d).A few Senior Kenyans calling others unprintable names especially in the presence of their Indian seniors must stop. SAFETY AND HEALTH. It is the duty of any organization to provide the appropriate personal protective equipment for its employees. Though Blowplast is doing so, employees are paying for it without their knowledge. A source from the HRD proves that all PPEs are indirectly paid for. No safety boots are provided.
All employees in Blowplast are either active or passive smokers since there I'd no smoking zone area. Toilets are being used for smoking which is a health hazard to the majority. WELFARE. A sum of Kshs. 300 is deducted monthly from our pay in the name of welfare contributions. Our questions are:
i). Who is accountable for this welfare?
ii). How much is each welfare member given in time of need?
iii). Why haven't we been updated about the welfare?
The truth of the matter is that most of us know the existence of the welfare through our payslips. Silence on the same issue smells fishy as those who have required the services of the welfare narrate horrible stories. The two self-proclaimed leaders of the welfare have a tendency of asking for bribes before they agree to give you anything for your kinsman's funeral. They discriminate on the amount to give out depending on who you are in the company. They are not accountable to anybody. Silence of the management on this issue means a big fish's mouth may be having a meal here.
The above and many other issues should be dealt with as soon as possible. Those Kenyan workers (Enock Orora, Mwanzia, Mwaluko, Musuma, Alila, and Okello) that oppress their fellow countrymen should borrow a leaf from the former colonialism collaborators.
They should know that 39 days are for a thief and 1 is for the owner, which is hitherto. We call upon anybody with any contradicting evidence to bring forth as we prepare to release all evidences that we have collected as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Yours
Agitated Blowplast employees.