When you meet him, he is very eager to help. He stated that he is available any time for an interview. He rose through the ranks, starting as an office messenger in Naivasha. The fire in him is still bellowing, close to 15 years later.

Eric Kanyi is an easy going professional who joined the Kenya Building, Construction, Timber and Furniture Industries Employees Union (KBCT&FIEU) on February 2nd, 2009. He says after High School the parents could not afford fees to take him to college, yet his younger siblings also needed their support. He therefore decided to step out and try his luck.

Lady luck struck not just early but resoundingly timely. He secured the job and lasted a year as he was transferred to Nairobi under the same role. “It could be the energy to serve, which is still present today”, he says.

In no time, he was the administration assistant, working under Joseph Kamau, the long serving administrator who has been with the union from 1970.

Kanyi was subsequently promoted to be the Assistant Education Coordinator and he became the substantive Coordinator from 2017.

His key responsibility is to provide liaison to external partners including the government, affiliate organizations, employers and non-state actors. He also plays a pivotal role on awareness, learning and advocacy targeting the union members.

Today KBCT&FIEU has four partners including the Federation of Danish Workers (3F), Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) and Solidarity Center.

Through BWI, there are regional networks across the world that they leverage on to learn challenges that they use to build their work. For instance, how to deal with Chinese investments where they often decline their employees to unionize. “We often realize that for some of these global investors, a certain region has engaged them and dealt with them in some way. For instance, contracts that some foreign investors sign with governments are opaque, like the Chinese. This makes it difficult to make them accountable on employee welfare issues. We then get lessons and see how to learn from them”, Mr. Kanyi remarked.

Challenges

One of the triumphs Eric says trade unions enjoyed was during the term of the late President Mwai Kibaki. He stated that since there were many big projects being undertaken and planned, his tenure marked the period when the most Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) were signed. However, successive regimes have not been welcoming to trade unionism, despite there being numerous projects across the country.

The sector also has two other unions, which may not necessarily have many members, but can certainly be used to divide and rule the industry.

Furthermore, the nature of the union is such that whenever there is decreased economic activities in the country, the membership also reduces. This also happens when projects stop or are stalled due to non-payment. It leads to fewer members and less remittances which can affect union activities.

A case in point is during the ban on logging in government forests. It led to tons of workers being laid off since furniture is then imported, stifling local entrepreneurship. Moreover, when it was opened recently, it was only accessible to fewer large-scale loggers.

Looking ahead

Eric Kanyi is appreciative of his initiative training as parallegal, which was facilitated by Sen. Stewart Mwadzayo. Solidarity Center paid for his training and has continued to support other union staff.

“Solidarity has been with us for a while, and we do appreciate the partnership over the years. Some two years ago, we also undertook with them a research project on… This year, they are deepening their support to include capacity building on Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), communication as well as helping us set up a gender desk,” he stated.

“What makes me happy is seeing the fruits of advocacy bearing fruits. I also enjoy seeing people more knowledgeable and aware of their rights,” he added.