County government workers have issued a seven-day ultimatum threatening a nationwide strike, citing what they describe as unfair treatment in salary adjustments compared to their national government counterparts.
The County Government Workers Union Kenya (COGWU-K) warned that failure to address their grievances could disrupt services across all 47 counties.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Union Secretary General Roba Duba accused the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) and the Council of Governors (CoG) of systematically excluding county employees from the Fourth Remuneration Review Cycle, while national government staff enjoyed pay increments and enhanced allowances retroactive to July 2025.
“By excluding county workers from the salary review adjustments as provided in labour laws, the SRC and CoG have effectively classified county employees as ‘second-class’ public servants. A Clerk in a National Ministry now receives a “New Year gift” of doubled allowances, while a Clerk in a County Government or Assembly facing the same 2026 inflation and economic hardships is left with nothing,’’ Duba said.
He added that the exclusion contravenes Article 230(5) of the Constitution, which calls for ’equal remuneration for work of equal value,’ and Article 41, which guarantees fair labour practices.
The SRC recently approved a pay rise for national government civil servants as part of the first phase of the Fourth Remuneration and Benefits Review Cycle covering 2025/2026 to 2028/2029.
However, county governments have not implemented similar adjustments.
The union accused the Council of Governors of administrative sabotage, arguing that despite clear guidance from the SRC to allocate funds for county workers’ salary increments effective July 1, 2024, governors failed to act.
“While the SRC bears the constitutional responsibility for remuneration policy, the Council of Governors (CoG) stands equally guilty of administrative sabotage. Despite receiving clear advisories and being urged by the SRC to allocate funds for salary increments in their respective budgets, the CoG has failed to act,’’ Duba said.
The union further accused CoG of deliberately creating friction between county workers and the government, citing the non-implementation of salary adjustments under the third remuneration and benefits cycle.
“We believe that the CoG is purposefully inviting confrontation between the workers and the government. This is evidenced by the non-implementation of the salary adjustments under Phase IV salary review in the 3rd remuneration and benefits Cycle, which was to be effective 1st July, 2024,’’ Duba said.
Highlighting the economic disparity, the union reiterated that county workers remain disadvantaged compared to their national counterparts.
“A clerk in a national ministry now receives a “New Year gift” of doubled allowances, while a clerk in a county government or assembly facing the same 2026 inflation and economic hardships is left with nothing,’’ he said.
COGWU-K has listed four demands, including immediate issuance of a framework for backdated salary adjustments, public disclosure by governors on the use of allocated funds, an end to restrictive SRC advisories that hinder Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations, and a public apology from both SRC and CoG.
’’The SRC must stop using “caps” and restrictive advisories to paralyze Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations between this Union and the Counties,’’ Duba stated.
He also demanded, ‘’The Council of Governors must immediately declare how they have utilized the funds the SRC advised them to allocate for salary increases.’’
The union warned that failure to meet these demands within seven days would leave them no choice but to call a national industrial strike affecting all county governments.
“Failure to address these grievances and provide a clear roadmap for implementation within seven (7) days will leave the Union with no option but to escalate this matter and initiate a National Industrial Strike across all 47 counties,’’ Duba said.
