Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metal Workers v Shankar Electronics (Cause E064 of 2025) [2025] KEELRC 2403 (KLR)
The bottom line
#A Kenyan employer selling its business must tell the union within 21 days whether workers keep their jobs, but the court won't halt the sale negotiations.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Extent of a trade union's participation in negotiations for the sale of an employer's business
The union has a right to information relevant to collective bargaining, but cannot be inserted into the entire sale negotiation process; the court ordered disclosure of information on employee transfer/disengagement instead of staying the negotiations.
Recognition Agreements and CBAs confer authority to engage on behalf of unionisable employees, but this authority is limited to matters of human capital, not all business decisions. The sale negotiations will cover matters beyond human resources, so it would be inequitable to shackle the negotiating parties as sought. The court instead leveraged the union's informational right, ordering the Respondent to disclose within 21 days whether employees will automatically transfer to the new owner and, if not, how they will be disengaged.
Effect of failure to file a replying affidavit on uncontroverted facts
The Respondent's factual assertions, including the ongoing negotiations, stood unrebutted; its submission that the Claimant failed to prove the sale under section 107 of the Evidence Act failed.
Despite court directions, the Respondent filed no replying affidavit against the application. The factual matters in the supporting affidavit therefore required no further proof; the evidential burden argument based on section 107 of the Evidence Act could not stand on unrebutted affidavit evidence.
Legal principles established
#- A trade union's authority under a Recognition Agreement and CBA to engage the employer is not an authority at large over all business decisions, but is confined to matters directly affecting employees' terms and conditions of work and human capital.
- An employer with a Recognition Agreement and CBA has an obligation to supply the union with information that would facilitate effective collective bargaining.
- Factual assertions in a supporting affidavit that are not controverted by a replying affidavit stand unrebutted.
Court orders
#- 1.Application allowed only in the terms that the Respondent shall, within 21 days of the ruling, supply the Claimant with information pertaining to whether employees will automatically transit into the employment of the new owner upon transfer of business, and if not, how they will be disengaged from their employment
- 2.Costs of the application shall be in the cause
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Section 74 of the Labour Relations Act, 2007 (invoked by the Claimant); Respondent challenged jurisdiction on prematurity
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metal Workers v Shankar Electronics (Cause E064 of 2025) [2025] KEELRC 2403 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Not stated in judgment (ELRC Cause/Motion; Notice of Motion dated 10th June 2025). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2025/2403/eng@2025-07-29
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.