Nairobi — The employment and labour relations court has ordered Kenya Airways (KQ) and the Kenya Airlines Pilot Association (KALPA) to hold urgent consultations and provide a report by 2:30 pm on a resolution of the ongoing pilot's strike.
Lady Justice Anna Mwaure noted that even though she would jail them, that would not provide a solution to the stalemate, an option she said she would not prefer.
"I order them to talk and see whether we can have, even if it is a partial agreement for the time being and I want a consent or some form of a report even if it is not a consent to be returned to me at 2:30 pm today," said justice Mwaure.
"So, take your break and let the lawyers and the immediate clients, the KQ management, the union officials go and have a talk they can bring back a report to me in the afternoon," she added
This comes even as KALPA has revealed to the court that there has been no structure to facilitate deliberations between them and KQ to facilitate a faster resolution to the ongoing industrial strike.
Through its lawyers Peter Kimani and Levi Kariuki, KALPA has prayed to the court to provide a mediator for the two parties to resolve the matter faster as they have received goodwill mediation in writing from the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), Central Organization of Trade Unions(COTU), Institute of Human Relations Manager and the Office of the Ombudsman.
KALPA has further prayed to be given seven days for the 10 applicants cited for contempt of Court to seek representation in order to be given a fair chance to respond to the order.
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The respondent (KALPA) has also noted that the order of contempt of Court is defective as one of the 11 applicants cited, Christine Kariuki is an office administrator at the office of the respondent.
Kariuki obliged and requested the court to strike her out of the order and proceed with the remaining 10, arguing that serving the pilots individually would have been redundant as the respondent had stated that the specific pilots mentioned were not served individually.
Kenya Airways and the pilot association are entangled in a legal dispute as to whether the officials of the association can be punished for contempt of a court order.
KQ obtained an order issued on 31 October urging the officials of the association not to commence the intended industrial strike.
Justice James Lika on his part issued an order staying the notice issued by the association calling its members to commence the strike starting November 4.
The order according to KQ's lawyer senior counsel John Ohaga was duly served upon the association officials and the same was disobeyed.
In ensuring compliance with the court order, KQ filed an application for contempt seeking to commit the officials to civil jail.
KALPA kicked off an industrial strike on Saturday affecting thousands of passengers whose flights were either cancelled or postponed.
On Sunday, KQ stated that it may be unable to meet its salary obligations in November if the pilots' strike persists.
