Correspondents attached to the Mediamax media stable have issued a 24-hour ultimatum to its management to settle their pay arrears or else they will down their tools and embark on a strike.
In a strongly worded letter to the management, Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) Secretary General Erick Oduor revealed that some of the journalists' arrears dated back more than a year.
"We stand in solidarity with correspondents of The People Daily, a respected daily newspaper owned by the former first family, who have withdrawn their labour over non-payment of their dues for over 12 months," read the letter.
"The correspondents have been subjected to inhuman treatment and have lost their dignity due to inability to meet their financial obligations, yet they sweat every day to deliver stories to the newspaper for publication."
As a result, journalists were locked out of their houses for failing to pay rent.
Oduor accused the media house of expecting maximum output from the reporters while delaying its staffers pay for months.
"We are aware that some correspondents have been kicked out by their landlords over accumulated rent arrears, forcing them and their loved ones to spend nights either in office premises or on the streets as they have nowhere to call home," he added.
"In view of the above, we are giving Mediamax Ltd 24 hours to address the concerns and negotiate a return-to-work formala with the correspondents, failure to which we will escalate the matter, including mobilising all correspondents to storm and shut the offices of Medimax located along Kijabe Street."
A source at the media house told the Kenyans.co.ke that the non-payment extended beyond People Daily newspaper and affected TV reporters.
"They (correspondents) have been going through a lot. The non-payment does not just affect PD. Even those from K24 TV and Kameme TV have been affected a lot," he stated.
In recent years, the station experienced financial upheaval forcing its management to retrench reporters in hundreds at a time.
In December 2022, the station fired journalists en masse including eight presenters and anchors.
The layoffs were sporadic as employees would not tell when their last day in office would be. The management issued letters of dismissal to the affected individuals personally.
A year prior, Mediamax reorganised its company structure to position itself in the digital age, a move that resulted in redundancies.
