Kenya Airways finally back in the sky, pilots insist strike still on

 

The flight cancellations were occasioned by a strike by at least 500 employees outsourced by KQ through Career Direction Ltd (CDL) who began work boycott last Friday.PHOTO:COURTESY

Kenya Airways (KQ) faces further turbulent times.Airline finally resumes cancelled flights but pilots insist strike still on from tomorrow

Yesterday, the airline had cancelled five flights to various African countries as  go-slow by its outsourced staff begun to weigh on its operations. And last evening, the airline announced that operations had returned to normalcy adding that 67 flights had taken off “from the around the network as at 4pm Kenyan time.”

The flight cancellations were occasioned by a strike by at least 500 employees outsourced by KQ through Career Direction Ltd (CDL) who began work boycott last Friday.

Flights 600 to Mombasa, 432 to Kilimajaro, 350 to Juba, 706 to Lusaka/Harare and 740 to Maputo were cancelled after their crew failed to report to work.

Flight 782 to Livingston/Cape Town was also delayed, leaving hundreds of travelers stranded.

This month alone, the airline has cancelled or delayed flights twice, putting the ‘Pride of Africa’ into more troubles.

On October 2, KQ delayed flights at Moi International Airport and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

POOR REMUNERATION

The contracted employees have decried poor remuneration, which they want addressed by the airline that has continued to post huge losses despite its efforts to cut down on its wage bill by outsourcing crew and other low cadre employees.

“Some of our outsourced staff including cabin crew have stayed away from work from Friday and we are working with their employer to resolve any issues they may have,” KQ said in a statement.

“Despite our effort to solve the problem by combining several flights, we have made the difficult decision to cancel some as the safety of our guests is paramount,” it added.

Further chaos is expected as the pilots, despite a court order, have insisted that their strike notice that expires early tomorrow morning is on.

Yesterday, the Ministry of East Africa Community, Social Protection and Labor announced that it had convened a conciliation meeting today between various parties to seek an amicable settlement on the issues that have given rise to the pilot’s strike notice.

“The separate meetings involving conciliation committee members, staff union representatives, KQ management as well as Cotu and FKE will take place at the ministry’s boardroom from 9am,” said the ministry’s Director of communications, Kaplich Barsito.