CS Mutua met with KAWU officials, led by Secretary-General Moss Ndiema, on Thursday, August 15 to discuss their concerns over the potential privatization of JKIA and its impact on job security.
Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary (CS) Alfred Mutua has announced that the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) has considered suspending their strike scheduled for Monday, August 19, 2024, which would have led to the shutting down of all airports and airstrips in Kenya, including the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi.
CS Mutua met with KAWU officials, led by Secretary-General Moss Ndiema, on Thursday, August 15 to discuss their concerns over the potential privatization of JKIA and its impact on job security.
The union had previously expressed outrage on the deal to lease JKIA to an Indian private firm Adani Airport Holdings Limited, with reports that the agreement involved a 30-year concession of the Indian firm to build and operate the airport facilities before eventually transferring them back to the Kenyan Government.
CS Alfred Mutua during a meeting with Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) officials on August 15, 2024. /ALFRED MUTUA
“During our discussions, I requested the union leadership to consider suspending their planned strike, which is set for Monday, August 19th, 2024 in favour of dialogue. I assured them that their concerns were being taken seriously. I managed to facilitate a meeting with the Transport Cabinet Secretary, Davis Chirchir, scheduled for next Tuesday, where they will have an opportunity to present their grievances directly,” he announced in part on his social media handles.
Mutua also stated that he committed to mediating between the aviation workers, the Ministry of Transport, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), and the national airline Kenya Airways to address the issues raised by the union.Â
“I strongly urge all unions in the country to refrain from making strike action their first recourse in resolving disputes. We should strive to give dialogue a chance first, especially as many of us in the Cabinet are still settling into our new roles following recent changes in government,” he added.
“I appreciate the union’s willingness to consider my request for dialogue. I am hopeful that they will consult their members on the matter of suspending the strike and arrive at a suitable solution.”
The CS expressed belief that through constructive engagement, the issues can be resolved without disrupting the critical operations at JKIA.
Mutua was accompanied by Social Protection PS Joseph Mogosi among other senior ministry officials.
The meeting came after JKIA workers called for the resignation of the facility’s top officials to avert the planned strike, with KAWU affirming that they would only have a sit down with the government if the KAA board of directors and other top leaders at Kenya Airways resigned.
“Our action is informed by Adani’s declaration in their Privately Initiated Proposal (PIP) that upon buying off JKIA, they intend to lay off the majority of employees, bring in non-Kenyans to work in the project and also force the few employees who will survive their purge to accept inferior terms and conditions of service that suits the Indian firm,” KAWU said, adding “These facts cut to the core of our members’ terms and conditions of service and they constitute a breach of their employment contracts.”
For Kenya Airways (KQ), the Union called for the resignation of Benard Oganga, head of security and James Kiprono Ng’eno, Security Operations Manager on account of gross misconduct, impropriety and lack of integrity.
As for KAA, the union revealed that the action is necessitated by their failure to heed the workers’ demands for the immediate resignation of the entire Board of Directors for their show of incompetence in presiding over the unlawful intended sale of JKIA to the Indian firm, adding that it should have instead exercised prudence and accountability as the custodians of the national asset on behalf of Kenyans.
The union had also demanded the resignation of the general manager of human resource development, Anthony Njagi, and the general manager of engineering, Meshack Ochieng Otwaro.
Ultimately, to prevent the planned strike, the Adani Airport Holdings Limited’s deal was to be abandoned in its entirety and the proposal nullified and discarded altogether.
Entrance to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. /MARVIN CHEGE.VIRALTEAKE