The Employment and Labour Relations court has temporarily suspended the implementation of the government’s contentious deduction of 1.5% towards the New Housing scheme for all workers. This is after the Umbrella union for workers, Central Organization of Trade unions (COTU), moved to court to contest the deductions. The petition was filed by COTU’s Secretary General, Mr. Francis Atwoli.
Employment and Labour Relations Court’s judge, Justice Hellen Wasilwa , issued the orders to suspend the deductions until the 21st of January, 2019, when the matter will be heard. Teachers’ unions; Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), are also opposed to the housing scheme.
According to Atwoli, there was no public participation on how the scheme would be implemented. He also says, in his petition, that if implemented the housing scheme will drastically reduce workers’ pay.
The housing scheme is part of president Uhuru’s Big 4 Agenda to construct 500,000 houses for government workers, by 2022. The president was expected to launch the housing scheme tomorrow, Thursday 20th December, 2018.
Read more details, here, on the housing scheme here and why the workers are opposed to it;
Why teachers should just reject the Government’s housing scheme; Details
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