Tata Chemicals lays off 140 employees in turnaround plan

Soda ash manufacturer Tata chemicals Magadi has laid off 140 employees in Kajiado County.

The move is part of a cost-cutting strategy to turn around the struggling multinational.

The company's managing director, Mr Subodh Srivastav, on July 12 issued a redundancy notice to all workers at the company. The move is aimed at slashing administrative costs as outlined in the turnaround strategy recently adopted by the board.

Among the affected employees are a dozen senior employees and lower cadre staff.

According to a letter written to affected employees by Human Resource manager Mr Nicholas Mwanyalo, the fired employees are entitled to their terminal dues including one month salary, ex gratia payments, Sh75,000 ex gratia as contribution towards the purchase of a medical scheme of own choice, pension benefits and a certificate of service among others upon clearing with the company.

"The management conducted consultation meetings with all employees in the company held variously from 19th to 29th July 2021. The staff engaged positively...management gathered all the views and proposals from all employees. Unfortunately, no viable solution was identified and it is with regret that in the circumstances, it is inevitable that several positions be declared redundant," read part of the letter.

The laid off employees are also required to vacate their company houses. Some of the staff who spoke with nation.africa said the layoffs had hit them hard especially now that the country is grappling with Covid-19.

"It has come at the most unfortunate time. Tata Chemicals has been my home for the past eight years. I did not see it coming," said one worker.

The firm's revenues are said to have plummeted significantly since the 2017 financial year due to rising energy costs. Continuous silting at Lake Magadi is also said to have affected the quality of trona, the mineral that is processed into soda ash or bicarbonate of soda.

Additionally, a bloated work force spread across all departments in Magadi's major plant and Mombasa depots is said to be pushing the company to its knees as it struggles to control costs.

Tata chemicals Ltd, formerly Magadi Soda, is the largest foreign-owned company in Kajiado County. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Chemicals Group based in India.

The firm harvests soda ash from Lake Magadi.