Explain union organization and structure in Kenya

The majority of unions in Kenya are organized on an industrial basis and any union
applying for registration is scrutinized and registered or refused registration on this
basis. Disputes in respect of recognition are also resolved on the basis of whether
or not they conform to the industrial -type system of trade union organization. The
system of trade union organization on industrial basis can be traced back to an
agreement reached in 1957 between the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) and
the Central Organization of Trade Union (COTU), at that time knows as Kenya
Federation of Labour. The Agreement state that.
• The functions of a union of employees as a body with which employers can
negotiates is accepted, but to be recognized such union must be duly registered and must be to show that it can ensure that agreement reached will be
observed by the workers in the industry
• The overlapping of spheres of activity of unions should be avoided
• Unions should be organized on industrial basis
• No form of coercion should be brought to bear upon the individual either to
join or not join a union.
Following this agreement, voluntary machinery was set up to deal with demarcation
problems between unions. Generally, union activity is restricted to workers below
the rank of supervisor and excludes personnel engaged in confidential, directive and
administrative representational and supervisory activities of the undertaking. The
impetus of trade union organization and development in Kenya has always come
from the top, from the COTU. Weak unions are given various forms of assistance
such as finding them able leaders and the central organization negotiates on behalf
of most unions. Thus, COTU developed its own forms of organizing the development of unions on industry-wide basis rather than on the structure of a craft or general union, as is the case in Britain. Some of the reasons that influenced such a decision were:
• Workers in a certain industry more or less face similar environment and may
make uniform demands
• Employers’ inclination to deal with people who know the economic of the
industry. The employer’s reasons to support industry based unions has lent
itself to various interpretations.
Casual observers of the Kenyan scene, point out that the key word is not the knowledge of the economics of the industry but “manipulation” of the industrial relations
system to suit their own purpose. The employer’s ability to manipulate union officials cannot b over emphasized. During the negotiations, the employers find it easy
to manipulate industry based unionists, by promising them certain favours so as to
divert their attention form the substantive issues at hand. Wagu Ananaba pointed out
that “. . . it is not common to hear that some full time salaried officials of trade
unions are on the payroll of the employers whose workers they represent “ Gin and
Tonic” is a popular nickname in Nairobi. Thus, it refers to a union official and
his connection and deals with the employer. The trade union movement in Kenya,
though numerically strong, (in 1997) it had about 40,000 members) is quite weak
in terms of influencing key managerial decisions. “The weaknesses of trade unions
in Kenya are indicated by the fact that:
• Unions do not provide any forms of assistance to their striking members.
• Except for a few unions, the enrolling of new members is the responsibility
of the organizing Secretaries and the part-time (generally non-paid) branch
Chairman and Shop stewards.
• Relatively few unions offer any service other than collective bargaining to the
members.
• The majority of the unions are really “one man show” with the general secretary doing all the collective bargaining and handling all major grievances, resolving the may branch problems that occur as well as administration the union.
In contrast, the Federation of Kenya employers (FKE) is better organized. Because
of its strong financial position, it provides all sorts of assistance to its affiliated
employer associations. The federation of Kenya employers has a wide range of
professional staff eg economic advisers, lawyers and industrial relations experts.
These help to consolidate FKE’s strong position against the weak trade unions.

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Titany answered the question on December 3, 2021 at 05:48