Aviation workers have announced that they will be going on strike over the proposed controversial Adani-JKIA deal. According to a report by Reuters, the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) says that it will contest the proposed deal, lamenting that the deal will lead to job losses.

“We shall consider our intention to engage in industrial action… only if the Adani Airport Holdings Limited’s deal is abandoned in its entirety,” the Kenya Aviation Workers Union Secretary General Moss Ndiema was quoted by Reuters.

KAWU issued a seven-day notice to the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), in which it has called on the government to drop the deal altogether. The KAA on Monday confirmed that it had received the strike notice.

The controversial deal by the KAA to handover the JKIA to the private Indian firm will result in job losses for Kenyan employees currently working at the facility.

Employees currently working at the JKIA who are employed by the KAA will be forced to renegotiate their work contracts with the Indian firm Adani Airport Holdings once the takeover is completed.

At the same time, these employees will be forced to accept new terms and conditions as one basis for any rehiring that might take place. According to the proposed concession terms by Adani, not all employees will be rehired. The firm proposes that it will only absorb a portion of the current workforce.

JKIA Adani raw deal pales against Rwanda, Ethiopia new airport constructions

The firm has also proposed to bring in foreign workers as part of its new workforce. These foreign workers, it is expected, will replace Kenyans who will be released by the firm.

“[Adani] shall offer employment to a mutually agreed percentage of present KAA employees on terms and conditions as recorded in the concession agreement… [Adani] may employ non-Kenyan employees,” part of the proposal by the firm states.