For a man who built his name on the back of Kenya’s working class, Francis Atwoli appears more comfortable seated next to power than protesting outside its gates to defend workers’ rights.

At 75, the long-serving Secretary-General of the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) is less the firebrand labor crusader he once claimed to be and more a seasoned political operator—adept at aligning with presidents, building alliances, and religiously defending policies that hurt the very people he is paid to protect.

At a press briefing on Tuesday at the union’s headquarters in Nairobi, the executive board members strongly rejected claims that 74-year-old Atwoli was about to retire, firmly standing by their leader and dismissing the rumors as baseless.