Members of the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) have announced that they will be joining the Tuesday, July 16 protests.
KUJ Secretary General Eric Oduor has announced that journalists will be protesting at the Standard Group premises in solidarity with the many unpaid professionals at the media house.
Dubbed Occupy Standard Group, the protests will be taking place at the same time with a planned nationwide protest led by the Gen Zs in the country.
Furthermore, the strike notice issued by the secretary general detailed that the protestors will be demanding for an immediate payment of the journalists.
Standard group journalists have in the past lamented about going months without receiving salaries, forcing some to leave the media house.
Also Read: Standard Group CEO Resigns from BOC Board
Journalists Storm Out of Studio
An earlier protest by the journalists of the Mombasa Road based media house led to retaliation from the management.
The employees drawn from Radio Maisha, Spice FM, Berur FM and Vybez Radio staged a walkout from their workstations and gathered at the cafeteria.
However, the management wrote a letter to them, threatening to fire all the radio presenters who were protesting against salary delays.
In addition, the employees revealed that they had not been paid for the months between June to August 2023.
On the other hand, they said that they had only received their February salary for 2024. In a statement on June 30, KUJ stated that it holds SG fully accountable for the suffering of its staff and that it would not allow the injustices to continue.
“The @KUJ_Kenya holds the @StandardGroupLc Board of Directors fully accountable for the suffering of its staff. Allowing these injustices to continue at Kenya’s oldest media house will not be tolerated. Take action! Enough is Enough!
“Standard Group owes staff six months of unpaid salaries. A clear and acceptable payment plan is required to settle this debt. Staff will withdraw their labor if this is not addressed,” KUJ said,” a statement from KUJ read in part.
Also Read: Standard Group Woes Deepen as Journalists Threaten to Go on Strike
Standard Group CEO Quits
In June 2024, the then Standard Group CEO Marion Gathoga-Mwangi resigned from her position as a Non-Executive Director effective. She had served the company between July 2018 to December 2021.
After stepping down as Managing Director, she transitioned to an executive role with African Oxygen (Pty) Limited in South Africa, another Linde Group company, but remained on the board of BOC Kenya as a Non-Executive Director.
The Chairman and the Board of Directors expressed their gratitude for Mrs. Gathoga-Mwangi’s dedication and significant contributions to BOC Kenya.
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