Kenya’s aviation workers have called off their strike that disrupted flights at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and other airports across the country.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) Secretary General Moss Ndiema announced the end of the strike on Tuesday morning after the parties reached a return-to-work agreement.
The strike, which began on Sunday and was largely affected by industrial action involving air traffic controllers, disrupted several flights into and out of JKIA. The disruption also spilled over to regional airports in East Africa and beyond.
KAWU, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) and low-cost carrier Jambojet signed the return-to-work agreement, with negotiations on outstanding issues set to continue.
Chirchir said the agreement provides clear guidelines on how the parties will address three collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) that have remained unresolved since 2015.
“We have looked at various issues with very clear guidelines on how we are going to deal with the three CBAs which have been suspended since 2015,” Chirchir said.
Ndiema urged union members to immediately begin normalising operations and restoring services.
He said workers on duty had been directed to start clearing flights, while other staff would resume work as part of the return-to-work process.
Ahead of the strike, KAWU had cited long-standing grievances involving KCAA, KAA and Jambojet. The union had raised concerns over the absence of a collective bargaining agreement at KCAA, delayed salary reviews, a dispute over union dues at KAA and alleged victimisation of union members at Jambojet.
The disruption left hundreds of passengers stranded at JKIA, with travellers reporting long waits for information as flight delays and cancellations stretched into a second day on Monday.
Airlines operating routes to and from Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia and Mauritius were also forced to cancel or reschedule flights following the disruption at Nairobi’s main international gateway.
With the return-to-work agreement now in place, aviation workers are expected to resume normal operations as negotiations on the outstanding labour issues continue.
