Kenya Building Construction Timber & Furniture Employees Union v Creative Joiners Limited (Cause 674 of 2017) [2024] KEELRC 216 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Employment Court ordered a company and union to negotiate their stalled CBA within 45 days, or workers automatically get 7% annual increases.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the court can compel a party to negotiate or dictate the terms of a CBA
The court will not descend into the arena of CBA negotiations or set CBA terms; collective bargaining is voluntary and founded on autonomy of the parties. However, having recognised the union and concluded a prior CBA, the parties must negotiate in good faith, and the court may accord them time to do so with a fallback award.
Relying on Court of Appeal authority in Teachers Service Commission v KNUT and Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metal Workers v Vehicles Manufacturers Ltd, the court held that collective bargaining is neither compulsory nor automatic and the court has no business setting CBA terms. Yet Section 57(1) of the Labour Relations Act obliges a recognising employer to conclude CBAs in good faith. Balancing these, the court declined to adopt the union's figures outright but granted 45 days to negotiate, with a 7% fallback award.
Whether the Claimant's 14% salary and 25% housing allowance proposals should be adopted
Refused; wage increases must be guided by economic and financial considerations including productivity, cost of living (CPI) and ability to pay, and the evidence did not establish the Respondent could sustainably afford the proposal
The CPPMD report showed declining revenues and profitability, CPI rise of about 14% over the period, and no guidance on affordability of the union's proposal. The union adduced no expert evidence to support its figures, and the Respondent did not controvert the report. Guided by Kenya Tea Growers, Leather Life EPZ and Kenya Ferry Services, the court held that decreed wages must be affordable and sustainable, and instead granted a fallback 7% annual increment should negotiation fail.
Legal principles established
#- Employers who have recognised a trade union are obliged to conclude CBAs with the union in good faith and transparently
- A collective agreement is a contract enforceable by or against the parties, founded on consensus ad idem, and the court as a general rule has no role in its negotiation
- A court faced with a question of wage increment ought to take into account productivity, cost of living and the ability to pay by the employer
Court orders
#- 1.Parties are accorded 45 days to negotiate the outstanding clauses of the CBA for 2015 to 2017
- 2.Failing negotiation within 45 days, members of the Claimant are awarded salary and house allowance increment of 7% respectively annually for the period 2015 to 2017
- 3.Costs of the suit awarded to the Claimant
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Article 159(2)(d) and Article 48 of the Constitution (delivery); Labour Relations Act, 2007 (substantive dispute)
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Kenya Building Construction Timber & Furniture Employees Union v Creative Joiners Limited (Cause 674 of 2017) [2024] KEELRC 216 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2024). Not stated in judgment (Memorandum of Claim filed 10th April 2017). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2024/216/eng@2024-02-13
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.