Kenya is a real sh!thole of a country. The majority of those who applied are pilots with private tour firms and fly small aircraft to National Parks allover the country.
So just imagine how many jobless trained teachers, Engineers, nurses there is in Kenya. Kila mwaka thousands of graduates leave universities.
The irony is Kenya still needs the thousands of teachers but they aren’t getting employed, the same with Engineers, recently you saw a Young jobless engineer who score all As in KCSE and attained Honors in University but yeye anachimba mitaro kwao ushago.
Are they going to hop straight into B737/787, Embraer 170/190 straight from flying Cessnas, Pipers, Dorniers, Dash 8s, Fokkers et al? No. It means they have to spend millions to get trained for these new types. Wako na hizi Pesa kweli? Doubtful. Will KQ foot the bills? No.
Hawa FOs wako strike wengi wao wako na ma-loan wanalipa, na wengi wao bado hawajamaliza kulipa training bond. Itabaki wamekunja mkia.
Wakisleki Huenda kukawa pilots kutoka nchi zingine ambao walipoteza kazi wakati wa covid na wana ratings.
KQ pilots have no real grievances. The pilots union has over the years been left to become very powerful dictating terms to the company. In 2016, they forced CEO Mbuvi Ngunze and other top management including chairman of the board to resign. They made a similar demand about CEO and board chairman Michael Joseph last week and demanded that a pilots rep sits on the KQ board (how is that even possible for a public company? do shareholders have any say?) They have arm-twisted the company to sign very unfriendly CBAs including barring the company from recruiting foreign pilots unless the union approves (employee dictating to employer on who to hire and who not to). There are pilots from some retired fleets that are still on payroll because the union cannot accept for them to be retrenched. Now last week they give notice of strike for payment of suspended provident fund due to COVID (with interest) and deferred pay (most companies just implemented pay cuts not deferred pay). I do not think the airline can even afford to pay this given the government just bailed them out on a defaulted loan last month. KQ pilots earn more than British Airways.
Murkomen did not speak out of ignorance when he said the union is testing the new administration, this pilots union needs a political solution, weaken the union, fire the pilots and order them to reapply for their jobs.