Tuskys Supermarket is on its death bed.
Empty shelves, low customer numbers characteristic of Uchumi when it was going down, have started appearing at Tuskys.
It is a sad demise, a slow death for once vibrant supermarket chain.
The Supermarket’s weakness has been evident since March when the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated a cessations of movement which badly affected the already struggling retail chain.
Tuskys started by announcing the closure of some branches in Nairobi, Kitale and Mombasa in April.
By May, suppliers of the supermaket had written to govt to help them salvage the situation as they had not been paid over Sh1.3 billion.
The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) had ordered Tuskys to pay the suppliers by July 16th. This has not been honored.
To cut costs, Tuskys announced a salary reduction in April, followed by an unpaid leave regime at the beginning of July. Both have been resisted by the Union.
On July 15th, it was reported that the courts had stopped Tuskys from slashing staff salaries. The court also directed the retailer to release any amounts held due to salary deductions
The court ruled that Tuskys had not shown how COVID-19 has made it difficult for them to negotiate with the Union on matters regarding adjustments of salary.
The Kenya Union of Commercial Food and Allied Workers (KUCFAW) has also warned Tuskys against effecting the unpaid leave policy.
Recently, the New Kenya Cooperative Creameries (New KCC) announced that it has stopped supplying milk to retail chain Tuskys Supermarket over non-payment on deliveries running into millions of shillings.
Other suppliers said they are cautiously supplying the retailer with their goods because of the delays in payment, which has hurt their financial flow.
This has led to empty shelves akin to Nakumatt and Uchumi when they were going down.
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“This is to remind you that pay cuts or salary reductions is a subject matter in Cause No. 199 of 2020 where there is an Interim Order issued and dated 3rd June 2020 to the subsist until ruling date. Further, there’s no mutual agreement to send employees on mandatory unpaid leave. Your intended action through the Regional and Branch Managers is in disregard of the Court order which is in your possession. It is worthy to remind you that we have time and again invited you to dialogue on this matter to realize a consensus, which call appear to have been ignored in the false hope that it is your position which must carry the day”.
KUCFAW warned Tuskys
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