Union seeks intervention as foreign airlines plan to sack 2,000 workers

National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) yesterday called on the Federal Ministry of Aviation to wade into the plan by foreign airlines to sack 2,000 workers over inability to transfer their earnings to respective bases due to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy.

In a letter addressed to Hadi Sirika, minister of state for aviation, and made available to newsmen, Olayinka Abioye, acting general secretary of NUATE, said information had filtered into the aviation industry of massive reduction in the numbers of its employees to the tune of about 2,000 workers.

According to Abioye, the plan poses a great threat to the sector’s development, and urged the Federal Government to intervene.

“The reason being adduced for this danger is that their earnings in the past year are under lock with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as they are unable to transfer these earnings to their respective home countries to meet operational costs in accordance with international rules.

“Following concerns raised recently by leaders of these workers and other stakeholders, and in appreciation of the good intent of the government’s fiscal policy, we humbly make this clarion call for your intervention to grant foreign airlines concession to repatriate their proceeds to their home countries,” he said.

He pointed out that should the foreign airlines go ahead with the sacking of workers in the aviation industry, it would not be in the interest of the aviation sector and Nigeria as a whole.

“We hasten to place in the front burner an emerging threat confronting over 2,000 private sector aviation workers in Nigeria, which requires your intervention to forestall imminent loss of jobs of these numbers of workers,” he said.