Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) on Sunday assured its customers and stakeholders that operations at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) would continue uninterrupted.
This is after the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) Secretary General Moses Ndiema announced that the union had postponed its upcoming seven-day strike.
Ina statement, the authority indicated that the postponement was to pave way for dialogue with the workers over the dicey topic of leasing the busy airport to India’s Adani Airport Holdings Limited.
According to KAA, the discussion will involve the Ministry of Roads and Transport, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, KAA Management and KAWU.
"Further to the statement released on Friday, August 16th, on the above-stated subject, Kenya Airports Authority would like to inform the public and all its stakeholders that the 7-day strike notice announced on Monday 12th August 2024, stands Postponed," read the update in part.
"This was stated by the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) Secretary General, Mr. Moses Ndiema in his press statement dated 17th August 2024 where he noted that the 7-day strike notice is postponed to give the ongoing discussions between the Ministry of Roads and Transport, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, KAA Management and Kenya Aviation Workers Union time to reach an amicable conclusion."
On Saturday, the union announced that it was postponing the strike for two weeks after invitation by Labour and Transport CSs.
“On Wednesday, we were invited by the CS Labour Alfred Mutua and after lengthy deliberations we were requested to pose our strike actions and allow dialogue to take place,” Ndiema stated.
“We also got an invite from the Transport CS David Chirchir for Tuesday next week. After we have held our delegates meeting today, we have agreed that we will delay our strike action for two weeks.”
Last week, the workers had rejected a proposal fronted by Principal Secretary for Transport Mohamed Daghar.
The proposal was aimed at defusing the crisis likely to be created should the workers proceed with their strike plans.
The calls for strike were caused by a the proposed Ksh246 billion deal to lease the airport which included the construction of a new passenger terminal and the refurbishment of existing facilities under a 30-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract.
The workers were concerned that the deal could lead to job losses. JKIA handles over 7 million passengers per year, 98,975 aircraft movements and 1.2 million tonnes capacity.
