Kenya Airways Strike:KQ Welcomes the Appointment of a Conciliator

This a Press Release by Kenya Airways as posted on their Facebook Page:

Kenya Airways has welcomed the appointment of a conciliator to facilitate talks between Kenya Airways management and the Aviation &Allied Workers Union (AAWU) Kenya. Chief Industrial Relations Officer at the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development Mrs. Alice Tabu, has appointed Mr. S.M. Mbae from the Labour headquarters to conciliate the two parties, in accordance with section 70(1) of the Labour Relations Act 2007.

Kenya Airways CEO Dr.Titus Naikuni(R) and HR Director Pual Kasimu

Mr. Mbae has subsequently convened a conciliation meeting tomorrow, 13/10/2010, inviting both management and the union to the talks. As a result of the new developments, Kenya Airways CEO, Dr. Titus Naikuni, has moved to reassure KQ passengers, investors and general public that the airline operations will function as scheduled.

“98 flights are all scheduled to operate tomorrow and we have no reason to cancel any flight due to staff strike which has now been declared illegal by the Industrial Court,” says Dr. Naikuni. The airline has also welcomed the move by the Secretary General of Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU), requesting its affiliate union to call off the strike and return to the negotiating table for further talks.

Reaffirming the airline’s commitment to dialogue and to following the laid down dispute resolution procedures, Dr. Naikuni said the management was always open for negotiations with the Union.  “We have diligently adhered to the process and agreements that we have signed with the Union and there is no time that we have acted in breach of this process” said Dr. Naikuni.

Meanwhile,some 600 workers are currently(2pm Nairobi time) voting on whether to push ahead with the strike from Tuesday midnight.SubSaharan Africa's third largest airline has reassured passengers of uninterrupted flight operations should the workers proceed with the strike.

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