COGWU-K General Secretary Roba Duba, when he addressed the press at his office in Nairobi on January 7, 2026/EZEKIEL AMING’A
County government workers have issued a seven-day strike notice, threatening nationwide industrial action over what their union describes as delays in implementing salary adjustments under the Fourth Remuneration Review Cycle.
The strike notice was announced on Wednesday in Nairobi by the County Government Workers Union Kenya (COGWU-K), which says frustration has grown over unimplemented pay rises and allowances for county employees, while their counterparts in the national government received new salaries and benefits.
Addressing the press, COGWU-K General Secretary Roba Duba claimed that county workers are being sidelined.
He said the union could no longer tolerate what it described as administrative neglect.
“A fresh confrontation is being engineered by SRC and the Council of Governors through continued non-implementation of approved salary adjustments for county workers,” Duba said, adding that the situation has reached a breaking point.
The dispute centres on the failure to implement salary adjustments under Phase IV of the Third Remuneration and Benefits Review Cycle, scheduled to take effect in July 2024.
According to the union, the delay has been worsened by an SRC circular issued on December 19, 2025, which approved new salary increments and allowances for national government civil servants but excluded county employees.
“The SRC bears constitutional responsibility for remuneration policy, but the Council of Governors is equally implicated,” Duba said.
He added that governors were advised to allocate funds for salary increments in their budgets but had not done so.
COGWU-K cited Articles 230(5) and 41 of the Constitution, which provide for equal remuneration for work of equal value and the right to fair labour practices, respectively, and argued that the disparity between national and county government employees performing similar roles could not be justified.
The union said the SRC’s approval of a revised salary and leave allowance structure for national government civil servants for the 2025–2029 period had further widened the gap.
The new framework, approved during SRC’s 691st meeting on December 19, 2025, will be implemented retroactively from July 1, 2025, at a projected cost of Sh2.065 billion in the 2025/2026 financial year.
Under the new structure, civil servants in national ministries will receive revised basic salaries, restructured house allowances, and a consolidated Salary Market Adjustment.
Duba said the union had previously petitioned President William Ruto over the issue and welcomed his directive to the Ministry of Labour to convene all concerned parties.
However, he said no meaningful action had yet been taken by SRC or CoG.
As part of its seven-day notice, the union issued four demands: immediate issuance of a backdated implementation framework for county employees effective July 1, 2024; a declaration by governors on how funds earmarked for salary increments were utilised; removal of SRC advisories restricting collective bargaining; and a public statement from SRC and CoG addressing the delays.
Failure to meet these demands, the union warned, would trigger a national industrial strike across all 47 counties.
When contacted for a comment, SRC acknowledged the concern but said it would issue a statement at a later date with regard to the demands made by the workers.