BQ Correspondent 
KALPA has released its official statement on the on going stalemate.According to Capt.Murithi Nyagah General Secretary & CEO KALPA said the association has been working tirelessly to resolve the issues at hand.We would like to confirm that as late as last night they were in contact with the Cabinet Secretary, Labour, Hon.Florence Bore.She graciously agreed to convene a meeting today that will bring all the concerned parties together.We are waiting for the time of the said meeting to be communicated to us and remain available throughout the day.
Contrary to reports circulating that we have refused to negotiate, we would like to clarify that KALPA is the only party in this matter that has been making all attempts to bridge the gap between KQ management and ourselves. We have sent our proposals both to KQ and the concerned Ministries on Friday, Saturday and yesterday. This afternoon we sent out another proposal, with even further concessions.
On the other hand,KQ has made no concessions from the proposals they presented over 2 weeks ago. They have also made it clear that they will not meet until our members resume their duties, yet this is contrary to the spirit of negotiation of a return-to-work formula that is founded on dialogue. This is not a show of good faith.
Despite all their non-committal actions to resolve the stalemate, we continue to urge KQ management to come to the table and negotiate with an open mind.The Management’s ego and chest-thumping is to the detriment of Kenyans at large. The persistent harassment and intimidation towards pilots agitating for their rights serves more to agonize than inspire confidence that management is concerned about their welfare.
”This adversarial approach will not achieve our common goal of getting KQ back to full operation”.The statemet read.
It is very important to note that what our members are holding out for is all within the confines of a mutually agreed Collective Bargaining Agreement. We have not asked for improved terms of service; we only demand that KQ management honours agreements already in place.KQ CEO continues to peddle the daily loss amounts our airline incurs daily, yet our contractual pension (Provident Fund) costs the company only 60 million shillings a month for all 3,800 KQ staff, yet, inexplicably, he is willing to let the company lose 300 million a day.
The plight of our colleagues and passengers is not lost on us. We reiterate that our members are ready to go back to work at the earliest opportunity to discharge our duties.As a matter of fact, our pilots have sat here for two days and counting, waiting to execute their functions upon the signing of an agreed position, whereas our proposal sits at the management table gathering dust.
We would like to sincerely thank all other stakeholders including COTU, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), and the Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE), for their offers to mediate this impasse. We welcome their involvement.We remain committed to finding an amicable solution to this situation.
