Sacked Sanyu FM employees blame managers over strike

Sanyu FM workers who were sacked by their managers on Wednesday have blamed their line managers for being responsible for the strike that led to their dismissal.
Social media was on Wednesday June 10 awash with news that Mr Sudhir Ruparelia has fired his entire staff at Sanyu FM for protesting a 25 per cent salary cut.
Josephine Katabarwa, a co-presenter on the morning breakfast show on the station said that the Chief Operating Manager, Ms Betsy Mugamba told her to sign the document if she was not satisfied with the pay cuts.

She said that to her dismay, she received a termination letter from the very person who had asked them to sign the strike letter.
“I learnt from my friend that our salaries have been cut. Ms Mugamba called me in her office and asked me if I was satisfied with the pay cut and I told her that I was not .She then told me to sign the letter which I did because other people had also signed. The next thing I heard was that I had been fired,” Ms Katabarwa said. She said that it was not necessary to terminate the contracts of the workers without speaking to them.

When contacted, Ms Mugamba hung up her phone on this reporter.
Meanwhile, Ms Katabarwa denied reports that she apologized and begged to return to her job.
Mr Rajiv Ruparelia had earlier said that Katabarwa apologized and said that she was misled by Onen and that she was ready to return to work.
But Katabarwa said that much as she spoke to Mr Ruparelia, she did not apologize neither did she beg for the job.
Daily Monitor has learnt that management asked all the staff whom had been sacked to re-apply for the jobs if they were still interested but some staff have vowed not to do it.

Katabarwa said that she cannot apologise because she was sacked against her will and if the owners want her back, they should apologise.
David Oguti another affected employee said that he had rumour that there would be pay cuts but there was nothing in writing and there was no meeting to that effect.
“The day we were paid, out accounts were 25 per cent less. It seemed so illogical and irresponsible for an employer to take your money without any formal communication” Mr Oguti said, “Our line managers thought that we could lobby to reverse the pay cut and the course of action that was called was that we would do industrial action as a team. We signed that document that informed them about our industrial action and on that we stopped coming to work. The decision was that we stay home and we stayed home but on Wednesday, we received our termination letters, “he said.
He said that some staff have already gone back to work but he said he was still exploring other means.

Mr James Onen commonly known as Fat Boy, a presenter of the morning show on the station on Saturday in an interview with this publication said that he was not responsible for leading the strike as he has been accused.
He however accused his line managers for being responsible because they are the ones who called all the workers whose salaries had been cut and asked them to sign the intention to strike letters which he said was formulated by the managers.

“I had nothing to do with the strike. The line managers came to the rest of the staff informing them that there was a plan to cut our salaries. We had accepted the cuts and we were working but the managers asked as to complain officially to the owners,” Mr Onen said “They came with the letter they had drafted themselves and asked us to cosign on it. We thought they were making efforts to negotiate and that they were going to seek a resolution with the owners. I was not bothered with the salary cut but when I was told that it is a collective effort, I felt that my participation was necessary so I signed,” he added.
He said that when the letter which was also signed by the line managers reached the owners, they promised to have a meeting on Thursday June 11 to explain the salary cuts but they were shocked when they received termination letters before the management meeting.