Del Monte Kenya Limited, Kenya’s largest producer and exporter of pineapple products and fruit beverages has dismissed the ongoing strike of its plantation workers, calling it illegal.
Del Monte says the workers went on strike without issuing any notice as is required by the law. The company says the allegations by the employees are unfounded and meant to sabotage its operations.
“Some of our Union employees working in the plantations went on an illegal strike without notice, claiming that we had sub-contracted a certain agriculture activity without communicating the same to them and will thus render some of them jobless,” said the company in a statement.
The company says it already held a meeting with the employees’ elected shop stewards from the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU) and clarified to them, that the contract in question, which is due to commence on 10th January 2022, will not affect any union member employees and no jobs will be lost due to this intended outsourcing.
“Further, we explained to them that the 2022 labor requirements have increased compared to 2021 and as such we were forced to temporarily outsource for additional manpower through the contract, to cover the additional work.
We reiterated to them that, as per the current state of affairs, we forecast that all current permanent and additional contract workers will be fully occupied throughout the year.”
