Kenya National Union Of Nurses v Kenyatta National Hospital Board [2015] KEELRC 1428 (KLR)

The Interested Party claimed to be a duly registered union with an existing recognition agreement and CBA with the respondent, and that the claimant's purported members were still its paid-up members whose resignations had not been evidenced under Section 48(6), (7) and (8) of the Labour Relations Act. The court found that the opposition posed adequate grounds for joinder so that all issues in dispute could be adjudicated effectively on an open hearing of all interested parties.

Section 54(1) requires a simple majority of unionisable employees for recognition. The claimant claimed 827 members (90.2%) while the respondent asserted only 772 of 1,614 unionisable nurses had been verified, below the 50+1 threshold. The verification exercises were frustrated and never produced consensus. The claimant also failed to pursue the reconciliation procedure under Section 54(6) and (7) before coming to court, and did not follow the Section 48 procedure for deduction of dues, including obtaining a Minister's order and serving Form S.

The respondent had objected that the suit was incompetent, premature and bad in law for offending Sections 48, 50 and 54 of the Labour Relations Act. The court found the claimant's approach circumlocutory and non-compliant with statutory preconditions, and dismissed the claim to allow the parties to redirect their energies to the correct statutory course.

The court observed hostility by the respondent toward the claimant, apparent collusion between the respondent and the Interested Party, sabotage of the verification exercises, and recusal and adjournment applications deployed as delay tactics. Despite finding these practices detrimental to sustainable industrial relations, the court held the claimant's own statutory non-compliance decisive.