Househelps in Nakuru and Eldoret will be smiling to the bank following the elevation of the towns to city status.
New rules published by Labour CS Alfred Mutua now include the category of domestic and industrial workers to be paid at city rates.
In the freshly gazetted minimum wages, housemaids in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nakuru will be paid a Sh16,113 basic pay per month.
The pay, which is an increase from the current Sh15,200 set in 2018, translates to an increase of Sh775 per day or Sh144 per hour.
Cleaners, sweepers, gardeners, children’s ayah, house servants, day watchmen and messengers in the cities will also earn at the same rate.
The cadre of staff at all former municipalities and town councils of Mavoko, Ruiru and Limuru will earn Sh14,866 per month.
Employers in other areas will be required to pay their house helps and other labourers Sh8,596 monthly.
The minimum pay for miners, stone cutters, turn-boys, waiters, cooks, loggers, and line cutters working in the cities has been set at Sh17,402, translating to a daily rate of Sh836.
Night watchmen in Nairobi and the other cities will be paid Sh17,976 or Sh862 daily from Sh16,959.
Those in municipalities in the outskirts of Nairobi will get Sh16,665 monthly.
Night watchmen in other areas are to be paid Sh10,253 per month, translating to Sh94 per hour.
Machine attendants, sawmill sawyers, machine assistants, mass production machinists, shoe cutters, bakery workers, bakery assistants and tailors assistants are to be paid Sh18,263 monthly.
Those working outside the cities would get Sh16,995 (for municipalities) and Sh13,774 in all other areas.
Those hiring drivers for light vans and cars in the cities would be required to pay the lot Sh21,748 per month, translating to Sh1,045 per day.
Receptionists, general clerks, telephone operators and storekeepers working in cities would earn Sh24,818 monthly and Sh22,689 for those in Mavoko, Ruiru and Limuru.
In the last wage order, receptionists and other workers in the same category were paid Sh23,413 for those in cities and Sh21,400 for those working in municipalities.
Tailors and drivers of medium-sized cars are to be paid Sh27,352 monthly, while crawler tractor drivers and salespersons, have their minimum wage set at Sh30,196.
Caretakers of buildings’ minimum wage has been set at Sh33,416 for those working in the cities, Sh31,200 for the municipalities and Sh29,068 for the other areas.
Cashiers, drivers of heavy commercial vehicles and salesman drivers are to be paid Sh36,360 monthly as minimum wage for those who work in cities.
Those in other areas will be paid Sh34,200 for municipalities of Mavoko, Limuru and Ruiru, and Sh32,082 for all other areas.
An upgraded artisan in the cities would be paid a minimum of Sh21,748, while artisans of grade 1 to grade three will be paid between Sh36,360 and Sh27,350 monthly.
The new cap follows President William Ruto’s order to employers to increase the minimum wage by 6 per cent.
The directive was issued during this year’s Labour Day celebrations in May.
The President urged for the creation and operationalisation of more wage councils, citing the need for one for seafarers, protective and agricultural workers.
Workers last got a pay rise during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s time, when he declared a 12 per cent increase in the 2018 Labour Day.
The Central Organisation of Trade Unions has been pushing for a 24 per cent increase, to the chagrin of employers who have maintained that employees were earning above the set minimum wages.
Studies on domestic workers’ wages in Kenya, however, have revealed that most of them earn an estimated Sh8,841 per month.
