200 Employees Fired as Choppies Plans to Exit Kenyan Market

Choppies Supermarket’s recent announcement of plans to exit the Kenyan market has come with a bang as 200 employees have been rendered jobless.

According to Choppies, the decision to lay off some of its employees was reached since the retailer had reduced its operations in most parts of the country.

Choppies Supermarkets’’ Human Resource Manager sent the terminations letter to the 200 employees stating that they will be compensated if in case the ongoing talks with the Kenya Union of Commercial Food and Allied Workers (Kucfaw) go through.

“This termination is due to the reduced business which has been running for several months which you are aware of, and the company is unable to sustain the current wage bill, noting that the business has gone down and is taking time for a full recovery,” read part of the letter.

The company also promised to pay the workers their salaries for the month of September in full, even though they are not supposed to report to work for the entire month.

In addition to their gravy salaries, the affected employees will also be issued with certificates of service to show appreciation for the services they offered to the company.

READ ALSO: Dead End: Choppies Puts All Assets In Kenya On Sale 

The affected employees have been notified to clear with their respective branch managers before September 15 where they will receive their payments.

However, some employees had sent complaints to the company that some of their allowances had not been cleared and they are pessimistic that they will receive all their compensations.

In a statement, the Kenya Union of Commercial, Food and Allied Workers (KUCFAW) Secretary-General, Boniface Kavuvi said that Choppies workers have not been paid in full to date. The Company has also failed to pay suppliers for a while and that explains the closure of some branches and empty shelves on others.

Mr. Kavuvi stated that they have scheduled a meeting for Wednesday, where they will meet the affected workers and discuss their grievances before taking further steps.

“The company wrote to us informing us of their intention to declare some workers redundant, and we responded to the letter, prompting the meeting scheduled for Wednesday. It is from the meeting that we are going to question the notice,” he said.