Employees of Kreative Roses in Naivasha, Kenya, went on strike last Monday because they want higher salaries. Kordes Roses, owner of the farm, consider the strike illegal and they’re taking the instigators to court.
According to Kenyan newspaper The Star, the employees were demanding a salary increase and improved working conditions. Kreative Roses felt that the strike came completely out of the blue.
Tim Kordes of Kordes Roses in Germany says that it was all because of a misunderstanding. “Employees who received the minimum wage were given a salary increase. Other employees, who earn more than the minimum wage, subsequently believed that they were also entitled to a raise, but they aren’t. This is a misunderstanding and the strike was illegal. We’ll take the people that went on strike to court.”
Kreative Roses spoke with the unions and the strike has ended; all employees are back at work. According to Tim Kordes, the unions had nothing to do with the strike. “It was a group of 40 to 50 employees. I don’t know why they did this. I guess they wanted to make a fuss.”
Kreative Roses grows cut roses on a 20-hectare plot in the Flower Business Park in Naivasha. Kordes: “Some farms in Kenya have experienced multiple strikes. During the ten years that we’ve been based in Kenya, this was the first time our employees went on strike.”
