Kenya airport staff have called off their day-long strike, which left scores stranded after flights were cancelled and delayed on Wednesday.
The decision to call off the strike came after the management, Ministry of Transport officials and the umbrella trade union organisation reached an agreement.
“We have agreed. We have an agreement on a return-to-work formula,” Transport Minister Davis Chirchir told reporters at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWI) members shut down activities at JKIA over a planned takeover of the airport by Indian firm, Adani.
KAWI urged the government to trash the plan to lease the airport for 30 years to Adani in exchange for a $1.85-billion investment.
“We have not said that we have accepted Adani. We will be given veto powers and our signature will be needed for the process to move forward,” KAWI leader Moss Ndiema said.
“If it is a bad deal, we will not sign.”
Francis Atwoli, the secretary general of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions, mentioned that they had received the investment deal documents and will analyse them thoroughly before determining their next steps.
“We undertake to go through them within 10 days and flat out arrears of our concern,” he said, adding that no worker will be punished for the strike.
News Central reports that hundreds of travellers were stranded on Wednesday at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Kenya due to a workforce strike provoked by an impending acquisition by an Indian corporation.
The strike, initiated by the Kenyan Aviation Workers Union at midnight, significantly disrupted flights at Nairobi’s JKIA.
The union has declared that the strike will persist until the government abandons its proposal to lease the airport to India’s Adani Group for 30 years in return for a $1.85 billion investment.