The families of hotel staff killed or injured by the car bomb attack that destroyed a Kenyan hotel last November are in "dire straits", according to union charity, TUC Aid. And the Nairobi branch of international union IUF believes workers, many of them casuals, are still waiting for their wages.
Nine members of a local IUF-affiliated union were among the 16 people killed by the attack on the Israeli-owned, 200-bedroom Paradise hotel on Kikambala Beach in Mombasa. Another 15 were injured in the blast.
Bandula Kothalawala at TUC Aid, which has already made a £2,000 donation to victims' families and will make a second shortly, said they were "very poor" and finding it hard to meet hospital and other expenses. She added that it was not uncommon for African hotel staff to be kept waiting up to six months for their wages.
IUF regional secretary Hella Alikuru said the local union was trying to organise meetings with hotel owner Yahud Saroni and the Kenyan minister for labour over compensation. The IUF will visit Mombasa in early March.
It is still not known if the hotel will be rebuilt. Andrew Thuva, senior front office supervisor at the nearby Club Sun N' Sand hotel, said there were no signs of construction work at the site.
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 27 February - 5 March 2003