Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals & Allied Workers v Imani School Ltd (Cause 22 of 2007) (Employment and Labour) [2008] KEIC 3 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Industrial Court ruled that a recognised union has full legal standing to negotiate a collective agreement, and ordered the school to start talks immediately.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Whether the Union has locus standi to negotiate a collective agreement on behalf of the Company's unionisable employees
- 2.Whether the Company should be compelled to negotiate with the Union new terms and conditions of employment covering the period from 1st January 2003 to date
Key legal issues
#Locus standi of a recognised trade union to negotiate collective agreements
The Union's registration under Section 11 of the Trade Unions Act and the Company's recognition agreement of 17th June 2003 suffice to confer locus standi to negotiate on behalf of all unionisable employees; the employer cannot resile from the recognition agreement.
The Court held that Section 5(2) of the Trade Disputes Act was enacted to merge the identity of individual employees into trade unions as collective bargaining agents, taking away individual employees' rights and entrusting them to unions. Since the Union was duly registered and accorded recognition by the Company, it had standing to negotiate, notwithstanding the Company's arguments about the recognition agreement's validity.
Employer's duty to negotiate a collective agreement
The Company was ordered to negotiate forthwith new terms and conditions of employment with the Union for all unionisable employees.
The dispute arose when the Union forwarded proposals for a collective agreement covering 1st January 2003 to 31st December 2004 and the Company refused to meet the Union, even declining to attend conciliation. The Court found the Union's recognition valid and disposed of the dispute by ordering immediate negotiations, rejecting the Company's requests for referral back.
Legal principles established
#- Registration of a union under the Trade Unions Act and recognition by the employer confer locus standi on the union to negotiate collective agreements on behalf of all unionisable employees.
Court orders
#- 1.That the Company should negotiate forthwith with the Union new terms and conditions of employment or service for all the unionisable employees in its establishment
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
Wrote the judgment
Wrote the judgment
Wrote the judgment
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Section 8 of the Trade Disputes Act, Cap. 234 (now repealed), on referral by the Minister for Labour and Human Resource Development with a statutory certificate from the Labour Commissioner under Section 14(9)(e) of the Act
Relief refused
#The Company's prayer that the matter be referred back to the parties for fresh negotiations on terms acceptable to the Company
The Court instead found the Union had locus standi and ordered the Company to negotiate forthwith; the award was made ex-parte as the Company failed to appear at the hearing.
Costs
No costs order made in the award.
Quotable passages
#Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.
the intention of the Legislature in enacting Section 5(2) of the Act (now repealed) was to completely merge the identity of the individual employee into the trade unions, which are for all intents and purposes “Collective Bargaining Agents”
In our view, therefore, this is enough to confer locus standi on the Union to negotiate with the Company, on behalf of all the unionisable employees, in its school.
Accordingly, we AWARD and ORDER that the Company should negotiate forthwith the Union new terms and conditions of employment or service for all the unionisable employees of in its establishment.
Issues in the judgment
#Typographical errors in the judgment, e.g. 'efiective', 'stafi', 'Ofice', 'Febraury', and inconsistent date formatting
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals & Allied Workers v Imani School Ltd (Cause 22 of 2007) (Employment and Labour) [2008] KEIC 3 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2008). Cause 22 of 2007. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keic/2008/3/eng@2008-02-20
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.