NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya Airways PLC’s pilots will begin a strike on Nov. 5, their union said on Friday, adding that a 14-day notice on the action had ended without the airline’s management addressing their grievances.
The walkout, which will start at 6.00 am local time (0300 GMT), will affect thousands of business and leisure travellers at one of the most important aviation hubs in the continent.
The Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) — a union that represents more than 400 pilots at the carrier — issued the notice that expired at midnight on Wednesday, following a dispute over pensions contributions and settlement of deferred pay for its members.
“We are therefore at liberty to exercise our right to withdraw our labour forthwith,” Murithi Nyagah, the general secretary of KALPA, said in a statement.
The airline did not respond to a request for comment immediately on Friday.
However, it had earlier in the week warned that the industrial action will cost it 300 million shillings ($2.47 million)a day, and jeopardise its recovery from the pandemic.
($1 = 121.4500 Kenyan shillings)
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Writing by George Obulutsa; editing by Uttaresh.V)
