Kenya's airport workers call off strike after inking return-to-work deal

Kenya's airport workers will resume work after inking a return-to-work deal with the government, Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir, workers union leader Moss Ndiema and Cotu boss Francis Atwoli have announced. 

This means that normal operations are set to resume at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), as well as at the airports in Mombasa, Kisumu and Eldoret where passengers were stranded most of Wednesday.

As part of the deal to resume work, the government will pave way for scrutiny of documents detailing the proposed 30-year JKIA lease deal with Indian conglomerate Adani Holdings.

Public scrutiny of deal

CS Chirchir promised that the Adani deal will be tabled in court, where the government has been sued, to allow open scrutiny.

“We will work together and build points of convergence. We have an agreement. We are aware that we have been taken to court. We will now present all the documents to court to ensure the public understands,” he said.

In a resolution read by Mr Atwoli, the teams agreed to give the aviation workers’ union 10 days to scrutinise documents in the Adani deal, before another meeting is held with stakeholders.

“The way forward will be determined by the outcomes of deliberations after 10 days,” the Cotu boss said.

Mr Atwoli said the government has also agreed to enter into salary negotiations with the union, as well as a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), in two months.

Mr Ndiema, the union leader, insisted that the deal reached did not mean that workers are now okay with the Adani deal.

"We have not said that we accept Adani," he said.