Pay row: County employees threatens complete shutdown after snub in pay review

County Government Workers Union Secretary General Roba Duba./HANDOUT

County government workers have issued a seven-day strike notice, threatening a nationwide industrial action over what their union describes as systematic discrimination in pay review.

The strike threat, issued Wednesday in Nairobi by the County Government Workers Union Kenya (COGWU-K), follows mounting frustration over alleged unimplemented salary adjustments and allowances for county employees.

The threat comes days after their counterparts in the national government were given pay rises and enhanced benefits.

Addressing the press, COGWU-K secretary general Roba Duba faulted the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and the Council of Governors for jointly sidelining county workers in the ongoing remuneration review process.

He said the union was no longer willing to tolerate “deliberate neglect and administrative sabotage”.

“A fresh confrontation is being engineered by SRC and the Council of Governors through continued non-implementation of approved salary adjustments for county workers,” Duba said, adding that the situation had reached a breaking point.

At the centre of the dispute is the failure to implement salary adjustments under Phase IV of the third remuneration and benefits review cycle, which was scheduled to take effect in July 2024.

According to the union, the delay has been worsened by a circular issued by the SRC on December 19, 2025, which approved salary increments and allowances for national government civil servants but excluded county employees.

The union noted that while national government staff will receive salary increments and enhanced allowances backdated to July 1, 2025, workers across the 47 county governments have been left out.

This, COGWU-K argued, amounts to unconstitutional discrimination.

“The SRC bears constitutional responsibility for remuneration policy, but the Council of Governors is equally culpable,” Duba said.

“Governors were advised to allocate funds for these salary increments in their budgets and failed to do so.”

He claimed the CoG ignored SRC advisories to prioritise salary adjustments in line with the fourth review cycle, despite repeated guidance to set aside resources for that purpose.

The union argued that this inaction has effectively relegated county workers to “second-class” status within the public service.

COGWU-K cited Articles 230(5) and 41 of the constitution, which provide for equal remuneration for work of equal value and the right to fair labour practices, respectively. The union said the disparity between national and county government employees performing similar roles could not be justified.

The new framework, approved during the SRC’s meeting on December 19, will be implemented retroactively from July 1, 2025 at a projected cost of Sh2.065 billion in the 2025/2026 financial year.

Under the new structure, civil servants in national ministries will benefit from revised basic salaries, restructured house allowances based on cost-of-living clusters and a consolidated salary market adjustment that merges several allowances into one.

COGWU-K said the decision has further widened the gap between national and county workers, despite both operating under the same economic pressures, including inflation and rising living costs.

Duba said the union had previously petitioned President William Ruto over the issue and welcomed his directive to the Ministry of Labour to convene all concerned parties. However, he claimed that despite the directive, no meaningful action had been taken by SRC or the CoG.

As part of its seven-day notice, the union issued four demands which include immediate issuance of a backdated implementation framework for county employees effective July 1, 2024 and a declaration by governors on how funds earmarked for salary increments were utilised.

They are also calling for the removal of restrictive SRC advisories that hinder collective bargaining agreements and a public apology from both the commission and the CoG.

Failure to meet the demands within seven days, the union warned, would trigger a national industrial strike across all 47 counties.

“We will escalate this matter by all legal means available,” Duba said, signalling what could become a major disruption to county services should the standoff remain unresolved.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

The union detects malice in the decision by the SRC to omit, for the second time, a pay rise for employees in the counties. COGWU-K also blames the Council of Governors for failing to fight for the welfare of their workers, who are the drivers of devolution.