Aviation workers, KCAA standoff now threatens airport operations
Business
By
Graham Kajilwa
| Feb 10, 2026
KAWU Secretary General Moss Ndiema (centre) and other members when they issued a 7-day strike notice to Kenya Civil Aviation Authority over stalled CBA talks at JKIA in Nairobi, on February 9, 2026. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]
A potential strike by civil aviation workers threatens to disrupt operations at key airports such as Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) next week, a move that could affect airlines and passengers using Kenya’s airports.
The Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) on Monday issued a seven-day notice to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA), citing seven points of contention. Top of them all is the blatant refusal, as put across by the union’s Secretary General Moses Ndiema, to negotiate and conclude a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Dialogue on this new document are 10 years late.
Ndiema says the last parties CBA lapsed in 2015.
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“Ever since, despite persistent pleas from the union, the management has blatantly refused to negotiate subsequent CBAs,” he said in a statement.
Ndiema said aside from the 2015 to 2026 CBA, whose negotiations have stalled since 2016 due to “management’s refusal to engage without any justifiable reason”, there are five other CBA cycles that are outstanding.
“Attempts by the union to persuade management to restart negotiations have been met with frustration, contempt, hollow excuses and demonstrable lack of goodwill,” he added.
As a result, the terms and conditions of service for unionisable employees of the Authority have remained unreviewed and stagnant.
KCAA is critical to the services offered at JKIA, Moi International Airport, Kisumu International Airport and Eldoret International Airport which are the main points of entry by air into the country.
Air traffic controllers, who are critical to the operations of airports are under the KCAA.
A similar notice was also issued two weeks ago in the union’s numerous attempts to get the government’s attention.
Ndiema said the Authority did not give employees a chance to negotiate hence the collapse of the attempted intervention and the subsequent strike notice. Also, KAWU raised concerns over attempts by KCAA to cripple the union by withholding union dues and issuing employees with contracts or employing them on temporary terms.
Ndiema said the management has refused to effect union dues deductions from employees in grades four and five who have expressed willingness to be members.
He added that the management has been employing personnel on contract terms in positions that are duly established and permanent in nature.
“Worse still, the management has perfected the unfair labour practice of terminating the said contract workers and re-engaging them after some break in service with the apparent objective of exploiting labour by putting them on inferior terms compared to their counterparts serving on permanent terms and performing similar roles,” Ndiema argued. He further stated that by these actions and inactions, KCAA demonstrates that it does not support or care about the existence of a healthy and harmonious industrial relation.
“Unless all the above issues in dispute are adequately addressed and conclusively resolved to our satisfaction within the notice period given herein, we shall have no other alternative but to resort to industrial action.”