Companies
KQ withholds pilots pay in salary cuts standoff
Tuesday March 30 2021
A Kenya Airways cargo plane. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Summary
- National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has withheld the March salaries for its pilots who are demanding smaller pay cuts in the wake of business disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- In a memo to the pilots last week, KQ director of operations Paul Njoroge said the pilots’ salaries for March would not be remitted until they dropped their demand for reduced cuts on their monthly take-home.
National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has withheld the March salaries for its pilots who are demanding smaller pay cuts in the wake of business disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a memo to the pilots last week, KQ director of operations Paul Njoroge said the pilots’ salaries for March would not be remitted until they dropped their demand for reduced cuts on their monthly take-home.
KQ, whose net loss for the fiscal year ended December 2020 stood at Sh36.2 billion on the economic fallout of the pandemic, has opted to keep paying pilots 70 percent of their monthly pay, promising to clear the balance when the carrier returns to growth.
The Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa)— which represents about 414 KQ pilots—wants the airline to remit 95 per cent of the pay, with only five per cent deferred.
“Though management vividly explained to Kalpa the rationale of the proposed 70 per cent salary payout to pilots and sought consent for payment, Kalpa maintained that pilots should be paid salaries at 95 per cent and five per cent owed,” Mr Njoroge said in the Thursday memo seen by the Business Daily.
“Based on our current financial position, pilots’ salaries shall be delayed until when we receive a consent that is affordable.”
Monday, the pilots’ union confirmed that the pay impasse was yet to be settled and that it was seeking an improved proposal from KQ.
“Kalpa reiterates and…