[ad_1]
Workers are urgent for settlement of deferred pay and pension
Reuters
Greater than two dozen flights have been cancelled and 1000’s of passengers stranded as pilots at Kenya Airways, one in every of Africa’s greatest carriers, started a strike on Saturday, regardless of the federal government urging them to name it off.
The strike that began at 6am (0300 GMT) will have an effect on enterprise and leisure travellers at one in every of Africa’s most essential aviation hubs.
The Kenya Airline Pilots Affiliation mentioned the service’s administration declined to hearken to their proposals on how resolve their grievances.
The pilots are urgent for pension contributions and settlement of deferred pay.
“No KQ (Kenya Airways) plane has departed Jomo Kenyatta Worldwide Airport flown by a KALPA member from 6am this morning,” the union mentioned in an announcement. “The strike is absolutely in drive.”
Kenya Airways apologised to passengers in an announcement and mentioned it could do its greatest to minimise the inconvenience, which might embrace rebooking them onto different flights.
Earlier than the motion, the corporate had known as the deliberate strike illegal and warned it might jeopardise its restoration from the pandemic, saying it might lose not less than 300 million shillings ($2.5 million) a day.
“The pilots are throwing away the infant with the tub water,” Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen mentioned on privately-owned tv station NTV.
“It’s about 10,000 passengers affected thus far and if the scenario continues like this, the affect on the opposite sectors of the financial system, tourism, can be extreme,” the minister mentioned, including greater than two dozen flights had been cancelled thus far.
A stranded passenger on the airport within the capital Nairobi, who recognized himself as Lawrence, mentioned he had arrived at 5am to take a flight to Johannesburg in South Africa however “sadly they’ve simply advised me that it is cancelled because of the strike”.
Different passengers advised Reuters early on Saturday that the earlier evening was chaotic as folks sought to journey earlier than the strike began. A whole lot of passengers who had arrived in transit have been trapped contained in the airport as their connection flights did not take off, they mentioned.
[ad_2]
Source link