Kenya Airways has sacked 140 technical staff who went on strike over pay after issuing warning letters.
The technical operators went on a go-slow on Wednesday to push for salary increases, threatening massive flight cancellations and disruption of services.
The airline followed the warning for them to return to work with dismissal letters by email in the
evening.
Among those dismissed are employees in charge of
base and line maintenance, technical workshops, cabin and in-flight
entertainment, multi-crew cooperation and technical assistance.
KQ's public relations office told The Star on Thursday that the airline could not comment but promised a comprehensive report later today.
During an earlier media briefing, the
technical team said Kenya Airways had been ignoring their concerns about pay.
"We sent a letter to the CEO and wrote him an email but he neglected us. The reason we are here is disturbing. We have been trying to engage management on payment issues," said an engineer who requested anonymity.
The source said their salaries are much less than what they were promised - they want at least Sh340,000 for technical assistants and at most Sh1.2 million.
"We want to know...who has been taking the extra money?" posed the engineer.
In a letter to chief executive Sebastian Mikosz
on November 16, the technical team said the matter was resolved by the board in December last year and funds released.
But the technical director has reportedly not released the funds to date.
The workers told The Star they resorted to a go-slow after unsuccessful efforts to discuss the matter with management, which they said
ignored calls for a meeting.