Kenya: Oserian flower farm to lay off 400 employees

[WillieeArmellini]

Kenya: Oserian flower farm to lay off 400 employees

The largest flower farm in Naivasha, Oserian Ltd, plans to lay off more than 400 workers citing low European market demand and high cost of production.

This comes months after the neighbouring Karuturi Flower Farm shut down operations, sending home more than 3,000 workers.

Insider sources at Oserian yesterday said the firm will retrench the workers, who include management staff, by the end of the month.

The farm had announced plans to send home 618 workers but the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union moved to court to stop the move. A senior manager, who declined to be named, confirmed this, adding the market is poor because demand in Europe is low.

The manager cited high cost of power and labour in the farm that has more than 3,000 workers.

“The price of flowers has remained stagnant for the last three years against a rise in farm inputs and cost of power leading to the redundancy move,” the manager said.

http://www.floraldaily.com/article/6587/Kenya-Oserian-flower-farm-to-lay-off-400-employees

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