Kenya Airways has been allowed to retire 10 pilots who operated its Boeing 777-200 fleet, following a two-year battle in court. Justice Hellen Wasilwa ruled that Kenya Airways legally invoked clauses of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the airline and pilots in fronting the 10 flyers for early retirement following the sale of its entire Boeing 777-200 fleet.
Kenya Airways had sued the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa), claiming that the lobby called for a strike following the decision to redeploy 29 pilots and retire 10 others after cancelling plans to use its Boeing 777-200 fleet. Kalpa in response held that the 10 pilots had not been retired but actually sacked.
The lobby added that Kenya Airways had frustrated its efforts to negotiate a softer stance for the pilots targeted for retirement. “The respondents would have been declared redundant but Kenya Airways opted for early retirement which was also legal and provided for in the CBA.
“It is my finding that clause 34(b) of the CBA was rightfully used and the respondents, and indeed this court, cannot force parties to rewrite their contract and employ the redundancy clause as opposed to early retirement,” the judge ruled.
During the hearing, some of the pilots turned against Kalpa, accusing it of taking a hard stance that ruined negotiations between the flyers and Kenya Airways. One of the pilots held that the targeted KQ employees had been willing to settle the dispute out of court but “negotiations failed as a result of the combative attitude of Kalpa”.
KQ lawyer Jacqueline Munyaka argued that the national carrier made all efforts to engage Kalpa, but that the lobby refused to engage her clients.
“The respondent has not responded to the issue in relation to retirement of the 10 pilots and has instead jumped the gun and instructed the pilot community to withdraw goodwill and called media attention to the issue while disregarding KQ’s call for dialogue on the issue,” Ms Munyaka held.
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Kalpa was also opposed to the lowering of salaries of pilots redeployed to fleets smaller than the Boeing 777-200 which was phased out.
Justice Wasilwa however declined to hold Kalpa responsible for a Sh97 million loss the national carrier suffered during a 2015 standoff between KQ and its pilots over the retirement issue.
“Indeed the documents produced by Kenya Airways were some calculations on losses incurred but there is no proof that Kalpa in particular occasioned the said losses. “I therefore find that the claim by Kenya Airways for reimbursement of losses incurred by them due to withdrawal of goodwill cannot stand,” the judge added.
She held that KQ will have to pay eight of the pilots for 110 leave days, amounts which were accrued between October 2015 and February 2016. The eight pilots had worked during those days despite having been issued with their retirement notices.
The other two pilots had earlier written to KQ voluntarily looking to retire, but later withdrew the notices.
