1.
CU Newspaper headlining rail-way strike.
0.06

2.
CU Railway workers reading government report. (3 shots)
0.22

3.
GV Nairobi station.
0.27

4.
SV People waiting on platform.
0.30

5.
SV Timetables.
0.35

6.
GV PAN Passenger train.
0.50

7.
GV Tankers at standstill in goods depot, plus other wagons. (4 shots)
1.17

8.
GV Lorries transporting goods. (3 shots)
1.26

9.
GV Railway workers at mass rally. (2 shots)
1.41

10.
TV AND SV Railway General Secretary John Mollo speaking. (3 shots)
1.57

11.
SV Union officials lead chanting. (2 shots)
2.18

12.
GTV AND SV Workers leaving rally. (2 shots)
2.30



Initials VS 16.56 VS 17.22



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: East African Railways, already by a financial crisis, suffered another major blow on Thursday (July 18) when staff of the entire Kenyan section of the railway went on strike over a pay dispute.

The stoppage was called by the Railway African Union (Kenya), which represents 23,000 workers throughout the country. Union officials had warned that the strike would last until the East African Authority -- which controls the railway corporation -- guarantees the railway workers their July wages.

Last month, wages were not paid on time for the third occasion this year. Union General Secretary John Mollo declared that non-payment of wages had reached chronic proportions. He accused the Tanzanian and Ugandan regions of the Railway authority of not remitting funds to the headquarters as they should.

Workers were only persuaded to return to work after the Kenyan Government intervened with a written promise guaranteeing the payment of July wages.

Only las month, an official report on the financial crisis said that the railway is nearing total collapse. It proposed drastic remedies: the dismissal of the Chairman and Director General of the corporation, a 25 per cent cut in staff, and complete reorganisation of accounting and management.

The situation was further aggravated on the eve of the strike when the mainline form Nairobi to Kampala was paralysed by a serious goods-train derailment in the Rift Valley.