Kenya Airways pilots will finish their days-long strike and return to work on Wednesday morning, their union mentioned, after a court ordered workers to resume operations in a breakthrough for the beleaguered airline.
The protesting pilots, who make up 10 % of the workforce, are urgent for the reinstatement of contributions to a provident fund and cost of all salaries stopped in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The walkout has pressured tons of of flight cancellations and left hundreds of passengers stranded since Saturday morning, exacerbating the woes going through the troubled nationwide provider and prompting the federal government to threaten the pilots with disciplinary motion.
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Hours after a Nairobi court on Tuesday ordered the pilots to return to work, the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) mentioned its members would “resume duty” by 06:00 am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday — the deadline stipulated within the court order.
“KALPA members will do their best to restore normalcy to operations,” the union’s basic secretary Murithi Nyagah mentioned in a assertion launched late Tuesday, calling the journey disruptions “regrettable”.
KALPA launched the walkout at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in defiance of a court order issued final week in opposition to the strike, prompting judges to summon union representatives to seem in court on Tuesday.
Justice Anna Mwaure ordered KALPA members “to resume their duties as pilots by 6:00 am on 9th November 2022 unconditionally”.
The Kenya Airways saga, all you want to know
Kenya Airways, which is part-owned by the federal government in addition to Air France-KLM, is one of many greatest in Africa, connecting a number of international locations to Europe and Asia.
But it has been working losses for years, regardless of the federal government pumping in thousands and thousands of {dollars} to preserve it afloat.
The court order was welcomed by the federal government and the airline’s administration who vowed to intensify efforts to “recover the time, money and reputation lost”.
Mwaure additionally ordered the airline’s administration to enable the pilots “to perform their duties without harassing them or intimidating them and especially by not taking any disciplinary action against any of them”.
Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen urged the pilots and the airline’s administration “to obey the court order”.
“We regret that the issues at hand were allowed to persist and escalate into a strike,”
he mentioned.
“In the past three days, this strike has disrupted travel plans for over 12 000 customers… forced the cancellation of over 300 flights, and affected 3,500 other employees who were not part of it,”
he added.
In a assertion launched Tuesday night, the airline’s CEO Allan Kilavuka mentioned: “We commit to complying with the Court’s directions.”
The provider had earlier mentioned the strike had pressured it to cancel most of its flights however Kilavuka vowed that the airline would “do everything possible to return to normalcy in the shortest time”.
‘Economic sabotage’
The dispute has added to the challenges going through Kenya’s not too long ago elected authorities, with Murkomen on Sunday threatening the pilots with disciplinary motion until they returned to work.
The airline and the federal government have accused the union of partaking in “economic sabotage”, with Kenya Airways warning that the strike would lead to losses estimated at $2.5 million per day.
“Due to this unlawful action by KALPA, the customers of KQ both locally and globally have suffered and continue to suffer immeasurable inconvenience and losses,”
Kenya Airways mentioned in a assertion Monday utilizing the shorthand airline code.
The provider had additionally introduced that it was ending its recognition of the union and withdrawing from their collective bargaining deal, accusing KALPA of “exposing the airline to irreparable damage”.
The pilots in flip accused the airline’s administration of creating “no concessions” to finish the stalemate.
The airline was based in 1977 following the demise of East African Airways, and flies greater than 4 million passengers to 42 locations yearly.
It has been working largely thanks to state bailouts following years of losses.
© Agence France-Presse
