The former employees of Standard Media Group are reportedly plotting to storm the troubled media house over debts in salaries that the company is yet to pay them.
According to reports, the former employers will stage a demonstration to the company’s headquarters on November 28 to demand for their money.
Apparently, many of these workers had their jobs terminated under an agreement that would have seen the Standard pay them their dues within a specific timeline. The company has however, allegedly failed to honour the redundancy agreement.
The media house has been facing mounting financial problems. Most of its current and former employees are currently owed salaries dating back months. At one point, it was reported that the media house had not paid some workers for nearly twn months.
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In August 2024, an employee who had gone for months without receiving a salary for his work threatened to commit to suicide at the media house’s headquarters along Mombasa Road.
The employee was captured on video in a desperate resolution that revealed the dire situation that many of the workers at the troubled media company are in.
“Right now, I am at the Standard Media who refused to hear what I am talking about. I need my money today. I am not leaving here without my money. I am leaving here in two ways… I either die or I get my money,” the distressed Standard Media employee said in a viral video. “Standard Media has refused to pay me… So I die here today or I get my money.”
In July 2024, the media house shut down KTN News which mainly featured news, news features and news analysis. The channel had been opened in July 2015 as a 24-hour station dedicated to current affairs programming, news and features.
In the same month, the Standard announced that it would fire up to 300 employees. The company has said that it has resulted to firing its workers due to a difficult business environment and its long-drawn effect on revenue generation.
“This situation has been witnessed on the back of shifting trends in media consumption, occasioned by technological changes in the digital media landscape and emerging consumer preferences which have necessitated a rethink of our business model,” the Standard Media.