The Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) has called off its strike in order to facilitate orderly resolutions to the ongoing dispute between the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) and Kenya Airways.
According to KAWU Secretary General Moss Ndiema, they chose to suspend their strike to allow KALPA to resolve their differences with both KQ’s management and the government in order to avoid further disruptions to airport operations.
“We will wait until the issue between KALPA and KQ is resolved so that we don’t create confusion, that is why we suspended our action yesterday,” he said on Sunday.
“We called off our action with immediate effect and it will allow all other flights to be facilitated. The only affected airline is KQ. If we had gone ahead and downed tools then this airport would have been closed because all departments would have been grounded.”
However, Mr. Ndiema clarified that they do not support all of the grievances raised by KALPA prior to the strike.
He stated that they will be ready to protest the removal of KQ’s top officials, including CEO Allan Kilavuka, unless they are invited to the negotiating table to discuss the next steps.
“Kenya Aviation Workers Union would like to state that we have as much stake in who becomes the CEO of Kenya Airways as KALPA has or other section of employees,” he said.
“But if the issue is about Allan Kilavuka to resign then we should be invited to that debate because our stand is that he may not be perfect but he has restored KQ on the recovery path,” he added.
“If there is anything Allan Kilavuka has done wrong then let us know so that we discuss it. But the position of KAWU is that we have confidence in them and they should not be forced out and in any case we are ready to resist it.”
