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KQ signs pay deal with workers union

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 9 – Kenya Airways has signed a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the Aviation and Allied Workers Union (AAWU) bringing the on-going negotiations between the two parties to an end.

The new agreement, signed by the airline’s CEO Titus Naikuni and the AAWU General Secretary Nicholas Baraza on Monday, will see the union members gain a 25 percent increase in salaries and allowances backdated to 2008 as well as a 20 percent increment in salaries and allowances between 2010 and 2012.

Mr Naikuni said the closure of the CBA negotiations is in line with the airline’s overall corporate strategy and human resource investment to ensure that the airline operates as one organisation.

“There are always winners and losers, but in a situation like this we are all winners, in the sense that we are still one airline. The important thing is that we are still Kenya Airways. There is nothing among the negotiating parties that means that you go on your own and succeed without the airline. The airline is our backbone,” he said.

The CBA was signed after both parties agreed on key issues that revolved around housing and transport allowances and basic salary, including an annual 10 percent adjustment for the next two years.

The national carrier has maintained that the recent flight delays and cancellations were not a result of the go-slow staged by the workers union over the last couple of days.

Though both parties are yet to resolve other pending issues, AAWU General Secretary Nicholas Baraza said the current agreement addresses the pressing concerns of the union members.

“We want to collect our pieces and put them together again and go back to work because now we have gotten what we wanted and we are happy. Our morale has been boosted by signing this document. Let’s go back to business,” he said.

Also present at the CBA signing, COTU (Central Organisation of Trade Unions) Deputy Secretary General Fred Kubai encouraged the airline’s management to open up to workers to avoid future misunderstandings.

“They have to open up in terms of how they are performing and we have to promote industrial democracy, so the workers know how they are doing and how the airline is doing, so they do not think there is a lot hidden.

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