Atwoli advises KQ workers to call off strike

By Luke Anami

Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli has advised the Aviation Allied Workers Union to avert a strike it had called for Kenya Airways workers on Wednesday.

Atwoli challenged the union to engage KQ management in constructive search for a solution arguing the airline was wiling to negotiate contentious issues.

Cotu, however, warned the airline management against delaying the ongoing job evaluation exercise with the aim of frustrating the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.

Atwoli was reacting to a strike called by Aviation Allied Workers Union on Wednesday.


On Sunday, Atwoli cautioned that,

But on Monday, he toned down his combative approach.

Last month, Kenya Airways engaged a South African consultancy group to carry out the process of determining a relative internal value of a job to assist in salary allocation and grading, otherwise known as job evaluation.

The exercise, which is expected to assist in determining the CBA, has been criticised by AAWU officials as too slow and cumbersome and a deliberate attempt by the KQ management to delay the CBA negotiations.

Referring to last year


On Tuesday last week, AAWU issued a seven-day strike notice over the pay dispute, demanding salary rise to be back-dated by 15 months, which would cost Sh325 million above the initial amount of Sh129 million if it were implemented from

October 2009.

The notice of strike was to expire on Wednesday. Kenya Airways Managing Director Titus Naikuni is expected to issue a comprehensive statement on the way forward.