East Africa Portland Cement workers return to plant, Kenya

East African Portland Cement employees have returned to plant operations after signing a ‘return-to-work’ agreement with management, local press reports.

The agreement comes after the works was shut for more than eight days due to a dispute between staff and the board of directors. Chairman of the board, Mark Karbolo and Ogutu Were of the Chemical and Allied Workers Union, witnessed the signing of the deal.

In the agreement, Karbolo said he will act on all the allegations attributed to the company managing director Kephar Tande in accordance to the laid regulations.

Karbolo further stated that no  employee will be victimised over the activities that led to the closure of the factory, adding that all  those working at all the company quarries in Kajiado County will be provided security.

He said 300 workers out of the 1200 reported to work yesterday and attributed the reduced number of staff to the signed agreement that had not been signed by the concerned parties.

On Saturday, some 300t of cement were packaged and dispatched on Sunday in 20 lorries and the chairman said the production will normalise as soon as all the members of staff return to work as agreed.