Union wants KQ to give 1,000 outsourced staff permanent jobs

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Kenya Aviation Workers Union says non-unionised employees are discriminated against since they do not enjoy the same salaries and benefits as permanent staff despite doing the same job.

The Kenya Aviation Workers Union (Kawu) is demanding that all Kenya Airways’ staff sub-contracted from other companies be directly employed by the national carrier.

Kawu presented the demand to KQ human resource managers on Tuesday. The national carrier has outsourced 1,000 employees from four different firms.

Kawu, whose membership is made up of about 2,500 workers, said the non-unionised employees are discriminated against since they do not enjoy the same salaries and benefits as permanent staff despite doing the same job.

“Our demand is that these employees are fully absorbed by KQ and that the airline exits these sub-contracting agreements,” Kawu’s secretary general Moss Ndiema said in an interview.

The union’s demand comes at a time when one KQ contractor, Career Directions Limited (CDL), is preparing to update its approximately 500 employees on pay negotiations it has had with KQ over the past week.

CDL staff went on a go-slow on October 14 demanding salaries and benefits similar to those enjoyed by staff who are directly employed by the airline. They resumed duty last week Tuesday pending the conclusion of negotiations.

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The national carrier has, through Career Directions, hired over 500 employees who serve as both ground and cabin crew.

KQ has also contracted staff from Insight Management, Tradewinds Aviation Services and Strami.

CDL managing director Lucy Mmari yesterday said the company would update its employees about the negotiations “latest Friday”, declining to give any indication of what has been agreed on so for.

“We have been in constant communication with KQ and we have come up with several proposals. The airline’s board is expected to meet tomorrow and what they approve is what we shall tell our staff,” said Ms Mmari.

While CDL is pushing for an amicable resolution to the disagreement, Kawu wants outsourcing contracts cancelled saying they are too expensive for the company and exploitative to the workers.