Kenya airport workers’ union delays strike again

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NAIROBI – A planned strike by staff at Kenya’s international airport has been delayed again for a week, after already being pushed back by two weeks in August, a union said Saturday.
About 10,000 members of the Kenya Aviation Workers Union had initially planned to walk out August 19 over plans by the Kenyan government to strike an investment deal with India’s Adani Group to expand and operate Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
That strike was pushed back until Monday September 2 to allow for negotiations, and now the strike has been delayed again.
“The industrial action (will) be halted for seven days to allow us to read, comprehend and make documented demands to the government” on the group’s proposals, the union wrote on X.
The union also asked for “immediate cessation of stock-taking” by the Indian firm at JKIA, and the “immediate cancellation of a management and government delegation trip to India slated” on September 2.
The workers warned that any violation of its conditions would set off the strike.
The union has opposed the deal, saying it was an attempt to privatise the airport by stealth.
Under the proposal, Adani would invest $1.85-billion to expand the airport in exchange for operating it for 30 years, according to documents seen by AFP.
Adani would add a second runway and upgrade the passenger terminal, according to airport operator Kenya Airport Authority (KAA).
Kenya’s government has defended the deal as a necessary measure to refurbish JKIA — one of Africa’s busiest hubs — which is often hit by power outages and leaking roofs.
KAA said last month that the deal would be “subjected to technical, financial and legal reviews alongside requisite due processes”.
Last year, Adani Group, the sprawling ports-to-power Indian conglomerate, saw billions of dollars wiped from its market value after a report by the US-based Hindenburg Research firm accused it of “brazen” corporate fraud.
Gautam Adani — the family-run conglomerate’s founder and the world’s 12th richest person according to Bloomberg — denied Hindenburg’s allegations and called its report a “deliberate attempt” to damage its image for the benefit of short-sellers.
According to the KAA, 8.8 million passengers and 380,000 tonnes of cargo passed through the airport in the 2022/23 financial year. It contributes just over five percent of Kenya’s gross domestic product.