We the toll attendants at Moja Expressway Company Limited are suffering under unfair labour practices, corruption, sexual exploitation from African Assistant Station Masters and Masters and insecurity at our workplace.
Despite the rising toll rates, our salaries have remained stagnant for three years, while management continues to exploit us through yearly fixed contracts that allow them to underpay, intimidate, and control employees, despite the company being operational for the next 23 years.
Corruption in hiring is rampant.
Our HR Manager, Esther Kamau, demands bribes of up to Ksh 150,000 to renew contracts while unfairly replacing hardworking employees with her relatives and those who bribe her.
Workplace sexual harassment and abuse have become the norm. Some of our supervisors, like George Mulwa of Museum Hill Toll Station and Brian Wenani Masengeli of Capital Centre, who are African Assistant Master and Master respectively, are notorious for demanding sexual favours from female employees in exchange for job security.
Those who refuse are intimidated, relocated to distant stations, issued warning letters, blocked from contract renewals, or subjected to double assessments that affect their salaries and mental well-being.
The insecurity at work is alarming. We are frequently attacked and beaten by strangers at toll stations, both day and night, as police officers have been withdrawn from some locations. We have been left to defend ourselves, with no security measures put in place by management.
Unpaid overtime and salary deductions are also a major issue. Employees are forced to work extra hours without pay, and unjustified salary deductions are made under the pretext of performance assessments by Chinese supervisors.
Union suppression is another major problem. The company intimidates and threatens anyone who tries to advocate for employees joining a workers’ union to fight for better contracts and a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Contracts are being withheld. Since these injustices were exposed in 2022, our HR has stopped returning signed contracts to employees, leaving us in the dark about our job security.
We demand fair contracts, job security, safety at work, and an end to corruption, sexual harassment, and oppression.
