Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui has responded to uproar over claims that the Standard Media Group has not been remitting funds to its employees’ SACCO.
In a statement on X, Chelugui assured that his Ministry was aware of the complaints and that action was being taken to address the employees’ plight.
The Cooperatives CS was responding to concerns raised from various quarters including former KTN journalist Linda Oguttu.
“The matter is being actioned by my office Linda. Thank you!” he stated.
However, the CS did not divulge further on the action to be taken on the matter.
Standard Group had been a topic of discussion among Kenyans from various quarters after it emerged that a staffer had contemplated suicide due to frustrations occasioned by salary delays.
Besides the delays, some journalists also accused the company of failing to remit money to their employees’ Sacco even after deducting the respective amounts from their salaries.
KUJ Jumps in defense of Standard journalists
In a press statement on Thursday, November 9, the Kenya Union of Journalists called out the media company for ignoring the plight of its staff members.
Also Read: Standard Group Issues Statement After Staff Complaints
The Union said that efforts to negotiate with Standard Group’s management had proved futile as the company failed to honor its promises on several occasions.
As per the statement issued to media houses, the union had received distress calls from frustrated journalists in the company who had been suffering from mental health problems.
Therefore, the Union gave the company an ultimatum of 14 days to come up with a payment plan- failure to which it would mobilize workers to picket and demonstrate.
“We are giving the company 14 days to come up with a payment plan with a view of settling the arrears or else we will mobilize media workers in solidarity to picket at the company’s offices countrywide,” the statement read.
Also Read: Standard Group Finally Releases Full Pay After Suicide Threat
Standard pays full October salaries for the first-time in months
In a subsequent statement, however, the Standard Group assured its staff that efforts to solve the prevailing challenges were in place.
The media company further outlined its strategy to restructure its operations in a bid to keep up with the changing trends in the modern media landscape.
Earlier on Friday, November 10, reports emerged that the company had paid full salary for the month of October, much to the relief of their workers.
However, what remained unclear was whether the company was working to address concerns surrounding the remittance of funds towards its staff’s savings cooperative.
Despite being the oldest media company in Kenya, the Standard Group has had a turbulent recent past characterized by financial constraints, mass layoffs, and loss of key staffers to competition.
