This archive report was first published on 4 August 2020.
On August 4, 2020, the Employment and Labour Relations Court made a landmark ruling in favour of the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (Kawu), ordering the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to remit Sh38 million in union dues.
The court found that KAA had unlawfully withheld and failed to remit the monthly dues to Kawu between January 2016 and December 2019, contravening Section 50(1) of the Labour Relations Act.
Justice Hellen Wasilwa directed KAA to effect the deduction of monthly dues for Kawu members in job Grade S5 with effect from January 2020 and remit the same to the trade union.
The judge noted that KAA's failure to adhere to the law was suspect, and that the authority had only refunded the dues after the notice had not taken effect.
According to the court, the affected staff in job Grade S5 had lodged protest letters indicating that they had never been union members, hence the deductions had been made without a lawful basis.
Only 13 employees who had not renounced their union membership remained, and they were the only ones who were not reimbursed.
