By William Madouk
Ten UAP national workers, who were terminated, are still in dilemma, as the company has persisted to ignore implementing Ministry of Labor resolutions.
Speaking to No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper, yesterday, one of the affected staff, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed worries over UAP Company’s adamancy to implement the resolutions.
“To our dismay, it’s now 2 weeks awaiting the implementation of the resolution, including the reinstatement of the unlawfully terminated union’s executives,” the source said.
“It’s very unfortunate that the management continues the disrespectful behavior against South Sudanese laws by disrespecting the Ministry of Labor resolution. The UAP management refused to comply with the resolution from the ministry,” the relieved employee cited.
The affected employee said they were invited to a meeting by the Minister of Labour, James Hoth Mai, who promised to follow up on the implementation of the resolution, but he rang an alarm bell, saying their duties were now taken away.
“However, the UAP management had delegated the duties of terminated members to be performed by Kenyans and Ugandans in their respective countries,” she noted.
“I therefore call upon all relevant stakeholders to intervene on the implementation of the resolutions of the issues affecting the national staff in UAP Insurance in particular and other national staff across the country,” she added.
Efforts to get a comment from UAP management by this reporter were futile, as all attempts, including office visits, were unsuccessful as receptionists gave several excuses for management inaccessibility.
Labor Resolutions
On October 6, the Undersecretary at the Labor Ministry, Mary Hillary Wani, directed the company to instantly reinstate 10 national staff, fired over the strife. This came after a tripartite meeting to find an amicable solution to the company and national staff standoff.
“The terminated members of the staff association, both executive and members, are to be reinstated without fail (section 73, sub. (2)(a),” Ms. Wani earlier directed.
The Labor Ministry also advised that all national staff of UAP report back to work with immediate effect.
The company was instructed to review the salary structure and to give the human resources office, being held in Kenya, to a South Sudanese national.
According to the labor ministry, positions for UAP staff who are physically working in Kenya are to be advertised and nationalized.
“The UAP management is hereby requested to comply with and adhere to the resolution stipulated above,” she stressed.
Genesis of the Row
On September 18, 70 national staff at UAP Insurance Company staged a sit-in strike over unfair treatment and differential wages, a form of discrimination against nationals compared to expatriate colleagues.
However, the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Labour advised the UAP staff to halt their sit-down strike and return to work to pave the way for dialogue for an amicable settlement.
Luka Nyarsuk Nason, Chairman of the Labour Advisory Council, in a letter dated September 29, asked the UAP management to also put on hold all administrative measures taken against staff.
But when the UAP staff decided to return to the office, only 52 were given access to the entrance and about 10 employees were dismissed from work by management, leaving staff fuming.