KAWU Secretary General Moss Ndieama with other officials on September 25, 2025/COURTESYA crisis meeting between Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) management and the Kenya Aviation Workers’ Union (KAWU) ended Thursday without agreement, raising the prospect of a disruptive strike.
KAWU Secretary Moss Ndiema told the press at the JKIA after the meeting that the delegation met KAA in an effort to resolve the grievances that led the union to issue a seven-day strike notice.
“Unfortunately, we have not been able to resolve any issue, not even one,” Ndiema said.
He said out of the seven listed demands, which the union describes as its “irreducible minimums”, only one item saw any movement.
This is in relation to a planned meeting in Naivasha to deliberate human resource instruments.
According to Ndiema, the management offered to suspend the meeting pending further consultation.
“On that one they offered to suspend it until we consult further around it,” he said.
The most explosive row centres on the alleged dismissal of a human resource manager with Ndiema stating that the management insisted the decision was taken by the board.
The SG who was flanked by other union officials urged the management to resolve the issues before the lapse of the notice.
“If we are not able to resolve this issues between now and Monday next week when our seven-day strike notice will be expiring…we promise them that it will not end with the board still in office,” Ndiema warned.
“We will make sure they resign or they are disbanded.”
Ndiema also took on the board of failing to deliver improvements at JKIA, saying the airport “is in a very poor condition today.”
He argued that management-created vacancies within senior ranks have undermined operations and that reinstating the HR manager is non-negotiable for the union.
“We are not ready to have a board that occasions vacancies within the management,” Ndiema said. “If that will not be done then the strikes should not be blamed on the union, it is the only recourse available to us and we do it reluctantly. We will be commencing this strike with a heavy heart, it is not our wish.”
The union warned that any industrial action would not be limited to JKIA but could extend to other airports nationwide, and cautioned the public and the government to take responsibility for the consequences.
“Let the country be informed that if the strike happens at JKIA and in all other airports in the country, Kenya Aviation Workers is not to blame, our members are not to blame. These are failures largely on the board and the management,” Ndiema said.
