Cash strapped East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has sent packing 136 supervisors and managers in a restructuring move.
According to reports, the senior staffers were handed redundancy notices last week and are set to leave by October 19, even as the firm plans to fire more by the end of the year.
Also, some of the staffers will be rehired, but with a chop of 60 percent of their previous salaries, leaving them with only 40 percent.
According to the acting managing director Stephen Nthei, the company plans to cut the staff population by a quarter from the current 800 by the end of October.
Read: East Africa Portland Cement Makes A U-turn On Firing All Employees
“All senior officers, including heads of department and supervisors apart from the managing director, are the subject of the redundancy notice. However, those affected have a window of 30 days to reapply for their positions while serving under the notice,” said Mr Nthei as quoted by Business Daily.
All the 800 staffers are set to be sacked before being asked to re-apply under new terms.
“We will give the affected workers first priority to re-apply for the positions under new terms. We have a workforce whose total cost compared with productivity is very high,” added Nthei.
Read: East Africa Portland Cement Company CEO Simon Nkeri Fired
In August, the company sacked all employees before making a U-turn after a public uproar. At that time, Nthei said that the company was making a daily loss of Ksh8 million, painting a bleak future for the Blue Triangle cement manufacturer.
“As a result of the restructuring program, all positions in the company will be declared redundant and the employees released. Currently we suffer daily losses of up to Ksh8 million. In the last three years, the company’s market share has also dropped drastically impacting negatively on sales,” said Nthei.
The company revealed that it is unable to upgrade its equipment to remain competitive in the market.
Read: East African Portland Cement Set To Fire All Employees
“In the last three years, the company’s market share has drastically reduced, impacting negatively on sales and subsequent profitability. This may be attributed to many reasons, key among them being increased competition and inadequate working capital,” added the memo.
At least 936 staffers were targeted in the exercise, 448 permanent and 488 contract employees.
The company in 2016 fired 1,000 employees, leaving it with only 500 employees only to rehire some of the retrenched employees later.
In a bid to recover from loss making and pay debts, the company is also selling 2,000 acres of its idle land in Mavoko, Machakos.
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