The Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) has maintained that its planned nationwide aviation strike will go ahead unless employers resolve a long-running labour dispute before Friday.
Speaking ahead of the industrial action set for Friday, July 24, KAWU Secretary General Moss Ndiema said employers still have until the strike date to reach an agreement with the union, warning that thousands of aviation workers are ready to withdraw their labour if no deal is struck.
Should the strike proceed, operations at the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), Kenya Airways, JamboJet, other local and international airlines, and ground handling firms are expected to be affected.
"The Kenya Aviation Workers Union would like to confirm that our plans to go on strike are still on. I think we are left with three or four days," Ndiema said.
"So we want to confirm to the country and to users of our airports and other aerodrome facilities that if nothing is done by the respective employers between now and Friday to reach an agreement with us, there will be a strike involving employees from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), Kenya Airways and JamboJet," he added.
A nationwide strike would likely disrupt air travel for millions of passengers using Kenya's major airports.
Central to the dispute is a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between KAWU and KCAA that has remained unresolved since 2015.
The union argues that the delayed agreement has denied KCAA employees a salary review for over 10 years despite numerous discussions with the authority's management.
KAWU says it has exercised restraint over the years by pursuing negotiations instead of industrial action, but contends that the matter has remained unresolved for far too long.
The union has also raised concerns over what it describes as systemic issues within KCAA, claiming some human resource policies were crafted to serve the interests of individual managers rather than the institution and its workforce.
According to the union, these policies have left many employees feeling sidelined while senior officials prioritise their own interests.
KAWU has also opposed the deployment of National Youth Service (NYS) personnel to airports, arguing that the move threatens the jobs of aviation workers.
The union said NYS officers are already deployed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Lokichogio, Kisumu, Eldoret and Mombasa airports.
"As we speak, a number of them are already around here at JKIA, Lokichogio, Kisumu, Eldoret and Mombasa. Almost every airport has NYS personnel. That is a direct threat to the jobs of our members," Ndiema said.
The union maintains it has repeatedly presented these concerns to management but says little has been done to address them.
