The strike by Kenya Airport Workers Union is illegal, Transport CS James Macharia has said.
Macharia said the court had declared the strike unlawful and warned that action will be taken against union officials for disrupting security system at the airport.
KAA in a statement on Tuesday said the strike notice dated February 27 by the Kenya Aviation Workers Union stands suspended following the issuance of an order of injunction by the Employment and Labour Relations court on March 5.
“The government will take action against the union for calling on the strike despite a court order. We are going to take action against them for interfering with the security installation systems. If you are to strike, you should have done it at home. Striking here is kind of committing a crime,” Macharia said on Wednesday when he addressed the media at JKIA.
Hundreds of passengers are stranded at the airport after flights were disrupted following the strike by aviation workers.
The workers are opposed to a planned handover of management to Kenya Airways.
They say the plan will render most of them jobless and want it discarded.
Read; JKIA chaos: KQ's first flight to London set for 10.30am
The CS said the government had earlier met with the union officials together with COTU secretary general Francis Atwoli and agreed to address issues raised by the members.
The worker's union Secretary General Moses Ndiema has been arrested for leading the strike.
“They feared that the proposed merger will result in job losses. We gave them an assurance that this will not happen,” Macharia said.
KQ managing director Sebastian Migozs said they are working hard to resolve the strike that has disrupted 24 flights from 6 am.
He said the first flight from JKIA to London was scheduled to take off at 10.30 am together with KQ210 flight to Mumbai.
He asked customers to check how flights will be departing from 11 am through KQ's twitter page.
Also read; Passengers stranded at JKIA as aviation workers begin strike
