Pilots at troubled national flag carrier, Kenya Airways plan to go on strike from Saturday to seek better working conditions despite a court order suspending the industrial action, their union said Friday, IgbereTV reports
The airline, partly owned by the government as well as Dutch carrier KLM, is one of the continent’s biggest, connecting multiple nations within Africa to Europe and Asia, but it is facing turbulent times.
The Kenya Airlines Pilots Association (KALPA) said a series of meetings with the airline management had failed to resolve the pilots’ grievances.
No Kenya Airways flight will depart Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Saturday, said the union’s secretary general, Captain Murithi Nyaga.
“Kenya Airways management’s actions have left us with no other option,” Nyaga said, adding that a 14-day notice on the action had ended without a solution.
“We had hoped that the management of the airline would soften its stance and engage in negotiation on the issues raised.”
The pilots, who have had a particularly fraught relationship with management, are pressing for the reinstatement of contributions to a provident fund.
They also want back payment of all salaries stopped during the Covid pandemic
