Cement company using forced labour
Feb
2
Written by:
02/02/2012 15:01
Employees forced to work at gun point
More than 700 employees from the East Africa Portland Cement Company in Kenya told a court hearing this week that police officers were forcing them to work at gun point.
The Kenyan Business Daily reports that the workers, through lawyer Peter Kabue, told the presiding judge that officers were forcibly removing them from their homes at night and ferrying them to the factory at Athi River where they were being ordered to operate the machines.
Mr Kabue told the court that government forces ordered the workers into the factory in a PR exercise aimed at making the public believe the company had resumed normal operations.
Union members went on strike three weeks ago demanding the resignation of two directors, board chairman Mark Karbolo and managing director Kephar Tande over alleged mismanagement and misappropriation of funds.
According to Industrialisation minister, Amason Kingi, things came to a head on Monday when work at the factory came to a complete standstill as employees sabotaged the operations.
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