MASS LAYOFFS LOOM AS INTERNATIONAL CONGLOMERATE PLANS TO FIRE 2000 KENYANS

Over 2,000 Kenyans risk unemployment after an international company announced plans to retrench workers across its tea estates, sparking widespread public uproar. Sri Lanka’s Browns Plc announced plans to lay off more than 2,000 Kenyan employees, barely a year after acquiring tea plantations in Kericho, Bomet, and Kiambu counties from James Finlay Kenya and Ekaterra Plc.
The Browns Company has been greatly condemned by government leaders for unjustifiably targeting workers, months after taking over the plantations. According to a notice dated 19 September, the Browns company is offering a voluntary early-retirement package under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The package, according to Rajiv Bandaranayake, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Browns Company, included severance pay equal to 23 days of salary for each completed year of service, as well as one-way bus fare.
Additionally, it required the employees to provide “notice pay in accordance with the terms of service as per the CBA, pro-rated pay for outstanding leave days”. According to reports, the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU) and the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) have opposed the Browns’ retrenchment.