Arya News - Years of wrangling over pay, union recognition and collective bargaining are now back on the negotiating table.
Nairobi, Kenya – At Kenya’s airports, the return to normal operations came almost as quickly as the disruption had spread.
After two days of delays, cancellations and stranded passengers, aviation workers were told to return to their stations on September 1 after government officials, union leaders and aviation executives reached a return-to-work agreement following negotiations that continued through the night. The talks concluded in the early hours of Tuesday.
The deal ended the strike. It did not end the dispute.
The grievances behind the walkout had accumulated over years, including disputes over collective bargaining agreements, salary negotiations, agency fees, union recognition and claims of victimisation.
Several of the issues that triggered the strike are now back on the negotiating table.
A dispute that refused to go away
The latest strike followed a series of agreements that failed to resolve the underlying disputes.
The Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) had already reached a return-to-work agreement with the government and aviation agencies in February. By July, another agreement had been reached to suspend a planned strike and allow negotiations to continue.
That arrangement involved the Ministry of Roads and Transport, Kenya Airways, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) and the low-cost airline, Jambojet.
But the underlying disagreements remained.
In August, the union returned to industrial action, arguing that key commitments had not been sufficiently addressed. Among the issues were collective bargaining, salary-related matters, agency fees and a recognition dispute involving Jambojet.
The two-day strike, which began on August 30, disrupted operations at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the capital Nairobi, Moi International Airport, Kisumu International Airport and Eldoret International Airport.
For travellers, the dispute meant missed flights, cancelled journeys and long waits for information. Airlines were left dealing with a backlog even after the strike was called off.
The government’s case
Principal Secretary for Aviation and Aerospace Development, Teresia Mbaika, was among the senior officials involved in the negotiations.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mbaika said the Ministry of Roads and Transport had been engaging KAWU and had asked the union to negotiate separately with each institution involved.
Government officials and aviation stakeholders during negotiations to end the two-day strike by Kenyan aviation workers [Hafsa Sheikh/Al Jazeera] That meant KAWU was expected to address issues with individual employers, including KAA and KCAA, and escalate matters to the Cabinet Secretary where they could not be resolved.
But that process did not prevent another strike.
The latest action brought the different sides back to the negotiating table, with talks continuing through the night.
The Star newspaper reported that the talks brought together Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir, Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua, Mbaika, Labour PS Shadrack Mwadime, COTU Secretary-General Francis Atwoli and senior officials from KAA, KCAA and Jambojet.
Atwoli remained at the negotiations until dawn. Mutua later acknowledged that workers had legitimate grievances and apologised to passengers affected by the disruption.
What was agreed
The return-to-work agreement addresses several of the issues at the centre of the dispute.
One immediate commitment concerns agency fees owed to KAWU. The agreement provides for outstanding fees held by KAA to be remitted to the union immediately.
Another major issue is the collective bargaining agreement between KAWU and KCAA.
A CBA sets out terms and conditions negotiated between an employer and a workers’ union. In this case, the KCAA-KAWU agreement has remained unresolved for years.
Mbaika told Al Jazeera that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission had withdrawn its initial guidance issued on July 28 and subsequently issued new parameters on September 1 to guide the negotiations.
KAWU and KCAA are expected to return to negotiations immediately, with KCAA committing to honour and implement the outcome. Salary negotiations are to follow the SRC guidelines issued on September 1.
Mbaika told Al Jazeera that the unresolved CBA dates back to 2016.
The agreement also provides for the union’s grievances contained in its July 20 strike notice to be addressed through the agreed dispute-resolution process, with Mbaika’s office involved and the matters expected to be dealt with within three weeks.
The Jambojet dispute remains
One major issue is outside that process.
KAWU’s dispute with Jambojet over trade union recognition remains before the courts. The return-to-work agreement leaves that question to the judicial process, with both sides expected to respect the eventual court decision.
Jambojet has maintained that its employees did not participate in the strike and that it does not have a recognition agreement with KAWU.
Passengers wait at the airport as the two-day aviation strike disrupted flights and left travellers stranded across Kenya [File: Hafsa Sheikh/Al Jazeera] The airline was instead dealing with the backlog created by the wider disruption.
The agreement also includes protection for workers who took part in the industrial action.
Workers are not to be victimised or subjected to disciplinary action solely for participating in the strike. The agreement also commits the parties to resolving outstanding and future grievances through dialogue, conciliation and established legal mechanisms.
What the strike cost
While the negotiations continued, the consequences were being felt at airports.
Passengers were stranded. Airlines had to rebook travellers and rebuild schedules. Cargo movements were disrupted, affecting businesses that depend on aviation for imports and exports.
Jambojet said it expected normal scheduled operations to resume by September 2 and allowed affected passengers to rebook without additional charges.
The Kenya Airports Authority said the recovery was already under way, reporting that 244 flights, including arrivals and departures, were handled at major airports between 3am and noon on September 1.
They included 55 flights at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, 140 at Wilson Airport, 23 at Moi International Airport, 12 at Kisumu International Airport and 14 at Eldoret International Airport.
The figures underscored how quickly a labour dispute at Kenya’s airports can affect passengers, airlines and businesses.
Can the agreement hold?
Kenya’s aviation workers have heard commitments to negotiations before.
The July agreement was supposed to create space for dialogue. Yet less than two months later, workers were back on strike.
The aviation strike left passengers dealing with cancelled flights, long waits and uncertainty as negotiations continued between workers and the government [File: Hafsa Sheikh/Al Jazeera] Mbaika told Al Jazeera that the government believes renewed CBA negotiations, payment of agency fees, arbitration and continued dialogue should address the issues that led to the industrial action.
For KAWU, the measure of the agreement will be what happens next.
Ndiema and the union will be looking to see whether the commitments made during the overnight negotiations produce progress on the CBA and other outstanding grievances.
For the government, the task is to ensure those commitments are implemented before another dispute reaches the airports.
For passengers, airlines and businesses, the priority is simpler: avoiding another disruption.
Airliners are flying again. But the test now is whether the agreement signed at dawn can deliver where previous commitments did not.
For KAWU Secretary-General Moss Ndiema, the immediate priority was to get staff back to work while keeping negotiations alive.
“We have effectively called off the strike and urge our members to resume duties immediately. We hope to start talks on outstanding issues in two or three days.”