State yields to part of airport workers' demands to end 10-hour strike

The government has caved to the mounting pressure of the striking airport workers and agreed to honour part of their demands, ending a 10-hour impasse.

The strike, which commenced Tuesday night, went full-blown Wednesday, with crucial and normal services being disrupted.

The move to temporarily end the strike was arrived at following a meeting between the Kenya Aviation Workers' Union (Kawu), Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir, and KAA acting managing director Henry Ogoye.

The deal was brokered by Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli.

Principal Secretary Mohamed Dagar and Kenya Airways CEO Allan Kilavuka, among others, were also present.

In a statement, Atwoli noted that since the union has received all the pertinent documents they have been demanding from the government with regard to the proposed Adani deal, hence the need to suspend the strike.

He said they will now go through the documents within 10 days to identify areas of concern.

"We undertake to go through them within 10 days and flag out areas of our concern, which shall immediately be pointed out with a view of jointly engaging in discussion with the government, Kenya Airways, and KAA," the statement reads.

The agreement did not explicitly state that the union and the government had agreed on the matter.

It was resolved that a meeting be convened upon the lapse of the period and that the workers will be represented by two people in all discussions.

During the meeting held at the KAA head office, Kawu also scored big as the meeting resolved that the government would not sign any agreement with Adani without its concurrence.

Additionally, KAA and Kenya Airways were asked to expedite the Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) negotiations within two months.

The meeting further agreed that no employee would be victimised for participating in the strike, with KAA being asked to withdraw a court case against the union on strike notice.

While acknowledging the current court case, Chirchir said as a government they would use it to ensure all the relevant information about the proposed deal is made available to the court and other stakeholders.

This is to "facilitate clarity and understanding on the development of the facility."