NAMA, workers’ unions in faceoff over pay cut

A fresh crisis is brewing at the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), over alleged plans to cut workers’ salary for the month of June.

The workers’ unions, who got wind of the plans, have written a memo to NAMA management against the move.

With the airspace on lockdown in the last three months with attendant meagre revenue generated, agencies in the aviation industry have had a struggle paying monthly salary without the support of the Federal Government.

However, the coalition of Aviation workers unions have consistently stood against pay cuts. The unions are National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), and Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE).

In the letter to the Managing Director of NAMA, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, the coalition said they had again been informed that NAMA management was contemplating a payment of incomplete salaries to staff of the agency for the month of June this year.

“If this is true, it is our unions’ opinion that the intended action would amount to gross embarrassment to our aviation industry, the Federal Government of Nigeria and the entire people of this great country. Our unions, therefore, strongly advise against the attempt because the consequences may be more damaging than what might have been envisaged.

“Going forward, we are compelled to suggest that management be properly guided on how to address issues that concern salaries of our members in the agency. While we sincerely concede to the effectiveness of management continuous rapport with our in-house branches executives in NAMA for effective management of workers’ welfare and sustenance of industrial harmony, the correct position is that it is wrong for management to even discuss any alteration to our members’ salaries without recourse to the national unions,” the letter read in part.