Kenya Airports Authority staff down tools over pay

About 1,300 Kenya Airports Authority staff went on a countrywide strike Friday demanding a pay increase.

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 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.

But KAA managing director Stephen Gichuki said the strike was illegal following a court order issued on Thursday.

“All scheduled flights have taken off and landed on time. We do not foresee any disruption of operations at any Kenyan Airport,” Mr Gichuki said.

He said “a significant’ number of unionisable workers had reported on duty despite being intimidated by those who are on this illegal strike".

“Adequate staff have been positioned at all areas including security screening , fire services, ground flight safety and engineering maintenance in addition to government security agencies who ordinarily operate at all our airports are supplanting the various services.”

Police officers drawn from the airport base and General Service Unit watched from a distance as the workers addressed the media.

However, the strike did not unduly disrupt operations at the airport.

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.

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.

The forum was jointly hosted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation East and South Regional Office and the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA).