Who will speak out for employees of Standard Group?

Something is amiss at the oldest media house in the country. Things have not been well at the Standard Group PLC for a long time and there seems to be no end to the problems bedevilling the organisation.

Things started going south for the group in 2019. The management then blamed the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with loss of advertising revenue from the government, for loss of business. This led to, among others, pay cuts for employees, stoppage of funds to the pension scheme as well as to the Standard newspaper and KTN saccos. Even the statutory dues are in arrears. Ultimately, job losses were inevitable. But nothing seems to have worked to return the good fortunes of the group.

As things stand now, the media house owes its journalists about 10 months’ worth of salary arrears despite paying them only half. The working conditions have deteriorated so much that some employees have been forced to take refuge in the office after their houses were locked for non-payment of rent. The workload has more than tripled because those who left have not been replaced yet the number of TV and radio programmes as well as print products have remained the same.

Lack of communication from the management is the worst grievance for the staff. Those at the top expect operations to go on normally. No one seems to care how the employees get to work, whether they live on the streets, or if they can put food on their tables. For those working from home because they cannot afford fare to the office daily, where they get money to buy bundles or even airtime is their problem. The expectation from the management that work must go on no matter what has pushed staff morale to the lowest it has ever been and led to corruption to thrive at the institution, with people doing whatever it takes to survive.

And because staff are constantly putting off fires in their personal lives, they don’t have the mental or even physical capacity to do their job professionally. The negative results are there for all to see, especially in the print editions. The public, unaware of the plight of workers at the media institution, expects well-subbed stories and bulletins that match those of other media houses. They have no idea what it takes to get these products out daily.

The workers have not received any tangible help from Central Organisation of Trade Unions, despite paying dues to the organisation. Not even the Ministry of Labour has done anything about their plight. Left on their own, a section of the employees resorted to taking matters into their hands. Last Thursday, staff of the group’s four radio stations left them unmanned after the management failed to heed their demand to pay their accumulated salaries.

The media is the mouthpiece of society. They point out the injustices done to others so these can be corrected. But when the shoe is on the other foot, who speaks out for them?  Who, pray, will come to the aid of long-suffering staff at the Standard Group?