The Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, has re-echoed the call on the federal government to settle the outstanding severance benefits of erstwhile workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways.
The First Vice President of the association, Emmanuel Jaja, said this in commemoration of the 2024 International Workers’ Day on Wednesday in Lagos.
He said that the workers put in the greater part of their life in the service of the airline, which was liquidated during the regime of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
Mr Jaja regretted that over 100 former workers of the former national carrier had died since the last verification and part payment exercise carried out in 2019.
“Again, we wish to lament the death of five former Staff of the Nigerian Airways Staff who lost their lives in the last one week, including the pilot whose plane was hijacked in 1993, Captain Makpo Omodiagbe, without them receiving their full benefits from the federal government after the liquidation of the airline.
“The government must endeavour to pay the remaining living staff so that they can enjoy the labour of their lives before they are called home by their creator,” he said.
Mr Jaja also decried the recent increase in electricity tariff in the country amidst the epileptic power supply, calling for a return to the status quo.
The ATSSSAN leader lamented the hardship in the country following the fuel supply challenges, stating that the labour body was studying the situation.
He also spoke on the issue of companies in the aviation industry that had refused to allow their staff to join trade unions.
Mr Jaja said labour would soon make the industry uncomfortable for such companies and airlines.
“Government must also urgently address the issue of minimum wage for workers in order not to incur the wrath of the Nigerian workers,” he said.
Mr Jaja said that ATSSSAN, in collaboration with the National Union of Air Transport Employees and other unions, would henceforth, not tolerate airlines and companies refusing to allow their workforce to be unionised.
NAN
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