Passengers from Nairobi alight from a Kenya Airways plane at Kisumu Airport after a three hour delay caused by a strike by some of the KAA workers Friday. Photo/JACOB OWITI
About 1,300 Kenya Airports Authority staff went on a countrywide strike, demanding a salary increase and better working conditions.
Kenya Airways was forced to delay some of its domestic flights, awaiting confirmation the strike would not disrupt landing in other airports.
The airline’s corporate communications manager Chris Karanja said flights to Kisumu and Malindi were delayed as the airline confirmed the situation on the ground in both airports. Eventually the flights took off.
Aviation and Allied Workers Union secretary general Nicholas Baraza said the strike was called after their employer failed to implement a new pay structure two weeks ago.
“We have been patiently waiting since October last year when the last collective bargaining agreement (2010/2011) expired,” Mr Baraza said at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi on Friday. He was accompanied by airport staff including ground operators, fire fighters, security officers, flight controllers and engineers among others.
Mr Baraza said they were pushing for a 25 per cent pay increase but the employer had only offered them 9 per cent.
“Given the high rate of inflation in the country, we cannot take the offer,” he said as union members assembled near the airport’s parking bay.
Mr Baraza said the strike also took off in other airports countrywide – Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Wajir. “There are reports that a plane could not land at the Kisumu International Airport,” he said.
‘Illegal’ strike
However, KAA’s corporate communications manager Dominic Ngige said the strike was “illegal.”
“There has been little disruption, all flights are operating. We had two disruptions in the morning but they were sorted. The rest of our flights have not been affected,” he added.
The strike comes at a time when aircraft activity (landings and take-offs) increased from 195,000 in 2008 to 335,000 in 2010/2011, representing a 72 per cent increase, according to officials.
In the same period, the number of aircraft registered in the country increased from 757 to 1056, with many operators acquiring bigger aircraft.
According to KCAA director Hilary Kioko, Kenya currently has a deficit of about 800 aviation professionals, including pilots, aeronautical engineers, air traffic controllers, aeronautical information officers, flight dispatchers, and air cargo personnel.
It is estimated that more than 33,500 new air planes will be added over the next 20 years. Africa’s fleet is expected to grow by 800 aircraft.
“…It is now important to focus on accelerating the hiring of new staff,” said Col (rtd) Kioko this week during a consultative assembly of the members of the African Aviation Training Organisation, held in Nairobi.
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