KUJ had demanded that the media house based along Mombasa Road settle salary arrears owed to its staff, some of whom have reportedly gone unpaid for seven months.
Standard Group Limited is on the verge of being plunged into a bigger crisis after the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) on Sunday, June 30 announced that it will force a total shutdown of operations at the country’s oldest media house.
The union, while speaking to the press, issued a 14-day strike notice to the Cabinet Secretary for Labour on its intentions to stage a work boycott should the company fail to meet four of its demands.
KUJ had demanded that the media house based along Mombasa Road settle salary arrears owed to its staff, some of whom have reportedly gone unpaid for seven months.
“In this regard, we demand that the company comes up with an acceptable payment plan to clear the arrears failure to which staff will withdraw their labour,” Eric Oduor, KUJ Secretary General, said.
Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) Secretary-General, Eric Oduor speaking to the press on June 30, 2024. /KUJ
The union also called on the company to devise a concrete plan to restore the Sacco by providing Sacco savings contributed by its employees.
This is after it accused Standard Group of defying a directive from Sacco’s regulator, The Sacco Societies Regulatory (SASRA), to prioritise this matter in its debt-settling plan.
KUJ also called upon the company to remove a cap on medical claims and cease capturing the biometric data of staff to enforce a new directive of reporting time.
“For seven months now, staff at the Standard Group PLC, the oldest media house in this part of the world, have gone through untold sufferings due to unpaid salaries despite hard economic times in the country,” Oduor added.
“The Kenya Union of Journalists, therefore, is demanding an immediate response from the following issues failure to which we shall force a total shutdown of operations of Standard Group PLC in the next 14 days. In this regard, we have issued a 14-day strike notice to the Cabinet Secretary for Labour on our intention to stage a work boycott over the following issues.”
Standard Group was also compelled to come up with an acceptable payment plan to clear the arrears, failure to which the staff will not only withdraw their services but also begin auctioning prime assets of the company to recover the funds.
KUJ called on the board of directors at the company to end the suffering of journalists at the media house, saying “The buck stops with the board of directors to step in and save the staff from the sufferings.”
“History will judge you harshly for allowing whatever is happening in the oldest media company in the region. We put on notice all media companies in the country to pay their journalists because this affects media freedom. Enough is enough!”
Earlier, Standard Group’s staff drawn from Radio Maisha, Spice FM, Berur FM, and Vybez Radio threatened to go off air starting July 3 if the company fails to clear outstanding salaries.
In a letter addressed to the Standard Group PLC management, the radio team complained that they had not been paid salaries for the period between June to August 2023 and February to June 2024.
Standard Media Group offices along Mombasa Road. /STANDARD DIGITAL