A section of Kenya Airways engineers during a press conference on Thursday (photo/nation.co.ke)
The national carrier, Kenya Airways has fired 140 employees from its technical department who have been engaging in a two-day industrial action pushing for pay rise.
According to reports, the carrier issued dismissal latter's on Wednesday evening to the employees after issuing three warning letters directing them to get back to work.
The technical team constitutes of engineers and technicians who have been in the strike for two days now.
The strike which kicked off on Tuesday saw the engineers failing to work on aircraft in the hangers for repairs and maintenance forcing Kenya Airways to let them go.“Three warning calls were issued to the striking staff yesterday. As at 3 pm this afternoon, none of the striking employees had heeded to this warning. Left with no other choice management has taken necessary action,” Kenya Airways chief executive director Sebastian Mikosz said.Kenya Airways’ technical department has suffered major exits with staff being poached by Middle East carriers over the past two years.
However, the affected employees have dismissed the sacking, accusing the CEO of high handedness in dealing with the salary review issue claiming 200 have been sacked over the go slow.“It is a chilly reality that our employer has decided to separate with us. We have tried to engage our management led by the CEO from July with the figures we proposed that he should pay the maintenance staff. A lot of engineers have left KQ for the Middle East. What kind of a management is this that cannot engage its staff?” an engineer said during a press conference on Thursday.
According to the dismissal letter from the human resource departments, the affected employees will be entitled to salary and applicable allowances up to November 29, accrued leave days as well as the airlines and individual contribution to the pension scheme.