Kenya: Passengers stranded amid airport staff strike

Airport workers are staging a work slow-down to protest poor working conditions and a lack of support from relevant authorities.

Thousands of passengers were stranded or greatly delayed overnight and on Monday at Kenya's biggest international airport as workers' slow-down strike continued into its second day.

The strike at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport by Kenya Aviation Workers' Union (KAWU) is the latest in a series over poor working conditions and the lack of a collective bargaining agreement with the country's Civil Aviation Authority.

KAWU has also accused the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) of a lack of support for workers, and voiced its disapproval of a plan to use youth volunteers as airport staff.

Union leader Moss Ndiema said that KAWU had met with government officials on Sunday to try and resolve the dispute, but were unsuccessful in coming to an agreement.

Flights delayed, canceled

"Nothing is happening, updates are reaching us late. It's ruining our itinerary," 22-year-old traveller William Obino told French news agency AFP.

Kenya Airways said that flights were departing about two hours late on average. Rwanda's RwandAir said on Sunday it had to cancel two flights due to concerns over air traffic control issues in Nairobi.

The KAA issued a statement saying it was "working closely with the relevant aviation agencies, airlines and other stakeholders to manage the situation, minimize disruption and facilitate the smooth flow of airport operations." 

Edited by: Rana Taha

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