The Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) has called on the Standard Media Group PLC to pay their journalists and workers all outstanding six months’ pay.
Addressing a press conference Thursday in Nairobi, KUJ Secretary General Eric Oduor said: “We condemn the impunity and injustices being conducted by Standard group PLC, the company that owns Standard Newspaper, KTN Home, KTN News, Radio Maisha, Spice FM, Vybz Radio and other media products.”
He said that the Standard group is a media house that is entrusted with responsibility of holding those in leadership positions to account as a watchdog and they should also be held to account when it comes to paying their workers’ salaries.
“However the company has lost moral grounds to question injustice and bad governance, it must now remove the big log from its eyes and do its work as a watchdog,” he stated.
He said: “We express our solidarity as the media fraternity with our colleagues whose rights are being violated by the employer, who has the responsibility to pay for their labour in line with the laws that are in this country that is Employment Act and the article 41 of the Constitution.”
Oduor said the Constitution stipulates that every worker has a right to fair labour practices that means, when an employee has worked the employer must pay at the end of the payment period that is stipulated in the contract.
He further stated that poor terms of service and non-payment of salaries are now the new threats to press freedom, which if goes unchecked the media industry will sink with all the investments that have been made.
“We cannot be championing and calling for the rights of journalists when the employers themselves are the ones who are violating the rights of journalists,” he stated.
He questioned who will respect journalists if the employers do not respect them.
Oduor called upon Standard Group PLC to meet their financial obligations having not paid their staff for six months and some photographers for ten months.
However, a press release from the Standard Group Corporate Affairs Department noted that it’s “highly professional staff have remained committed despite the challenges” the country has been undergoing.
“A key challenge for the business has been the significant debts (pending bills) owed to the company and this has, regrettably, affected some of our operational timelines, including timely payment of staff salaries,” the statement said without giving clear dates when the salaries will be paid.
It added, “This issue remains a top priority for the company and is being addressed accordingly.”
“Not paying workers and journalists is not only illegal but a gross violation of human rights that the company must be held responsible especially by its stakeholders and business partners,” said the Secretary General.
He called upon the board of Standard media PLC to come out and protect the rights of the workers in the company.
Odour urged the media organization to pay the workers so that they could resume their normal lifestyles and meet financial obligations.
“We call upon investigations into the company’s financial transactions to explain to the public what went wrong and those who are responsible are held to account for their actions” said the secretary General.
By Silus Waswa and Cynthia Cherotich
