Global Airport News
A union said on Wednesday that it had issued a strike notice to Kenya Airways over a pay dispute, and warned the indefinite stoppage could cripple the aviation industry in east Africa's largest economy.
The Kenya Aviation and Allied Workers Union (AAWU) said it had on Tuesday night issued the notice to start industrial action next Wednesday after the failure of talks to resolve a pay dispute with the country's national carrier, Kenya Airways.
Around 5,000 members of the union could take part in the strike, including those who work for other airlines.
"The whole aviation industry, involving 5,000 employees, will go on strike from October 13 to demand the management of Kenya Airways honour the Return to Work Formula signed on August 25 last year," Moss Ndiema, chairman of the AAWU, said on Wednesday. "We shall strike until our demands are met."
Kenya Airways this month rejected new pay demands from its workers' union that would cost KES325 million shillings (USD$4 million) more than agreed in a deal with AAWU in April to increase salaries.
Under this agreement, the salary rise would be backdated to October 2009, at a cost of KES129 million, but the union now wants this backdated by 15 months, which the company said was unrealistic and illegal.
