More than 300 South Sudanese staffs of the Kenya Commercial Bank, KCB have stopped working in a countrywide strike for pay rise.
They say they decided to demonstrate after breakdown on negotiations between the National Staff leadership and the bank management.
The Chairperson of National Staff Association, Paul Ajok Garang, says they want the management to increase their salaries by 600 percent.
“We are out here on a peaceful demonstration; the main reason for this is we have been on negotiation with our Bank management to adjust our salaries,” Mr Ajok says.
“There are a few expatriates, mostly Kenyans. During the devaluation process these Kenyans’ salaries were adjusted automatically to the devaluation multiplier that is by 600 percent. So these people that you are seeing here also want the bank to adjust their salaries by 600%,” told Eye Radio.
Mr. Ajok apologized to the bank customers for the inconvenience caused by strike.
He urged the government to support them to push the bank management to accept their demand.
Eye Radio also spoke to some of the national staff and here is what they said.
“We don’t want the increment because the increment will be done the way they want, but adjustment you will go through the way the market is affecting totally,” said one.
“We need our allowance to be reflected. And also we need our overtime; Saturday, we are working and we are not getting anything why?”
Another worker said they “wrote a petition and all the National Staff within and outside Juba all signed and we submitted to the management and we told them, that we are giving you three days that 72 hours to respond to us,” but the deadline elapsed without “any communication and the Managing Director left; he went to Nairobi.”
The bank management is yet to respond to the demands of the striking workers.