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Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU-K)

The Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU-Kenya) is the National Trade Union Center of Kenya, located in Nairobi, Kenya. It was founded in 1965 upon the dissolution of the Kenya Federation of Labour and the African Workers’ Congress (KFL – AWC). COTU-Kenya is a trade union network, registered and operating within the provisions of the Labour Relations Act (2007) of the Laws of Kenya. 

COTU-Kenya and nation-building

One of the foundations upon which Kenya has been built is the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU). COTU is the largest association of workers’ unions that has shaped relations between Kenyan employers and workers since soon after the country’s independence–and impacted on the pace as well as direction of Kenya’s economic development in the process. Of the country’s 42 trade unions, 36 belong to COTU, and they represent more than 1.5 million workers both in the public and private sectors of the economy. Whether through negotiations for better wages and terms of employment or through tougher measures such as court action or labour strikes, trade unions have shaped the relations between employers and employees. COTU has been their strongest common voice in those relations.

Affiliated members

Joe Macharia