The management of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is to meet with embers of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association (ATSSSAN), National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and others any moment from now to discuss the review and the implementation of the Condition of Service (COS) in the organisation.
The unions had in a statement which NAMA also received, said that that, within 21 after receipt of this letter, Management should commence full implementation of all the agreed terms in the new Conditions of Service.
That Management should immediately invite the Unions to agree on modalities to pay for the arrears of salaries and allowance of staff which should have accrued to them since the extant Conditions of Service lapsed in 2012.
And that if the Management fails to accede to these two demands, the Unions and its members shall be at liberty to deploy any legitimate arsenal in their custody to compel the Management to perform its obligations to workers in tandem with extant laws.
But NAMA, through its spokesperson, Olajumoke Adetona, said it was in receipt of a letter jointly signed by three Aviation Unions, adding that the said document of COS had been submitted to the Ministry of Aviation for approval.
“ Therein, the unions are requesting to meet with the Management of the agency to review the approval stages required towards implementation of the reviewed Condition of Service (COS) document which was collectively worked on by the unions and the agency (COS Committee), particularly on the review of Professional Allowances.
The COS document had been submitted to the Federal Ministry of Aviation to commence the necessary required approval processes. The agency has acknowledged receipt of the letter in writing and will in due course agree a date to meet with the unions to review and follow up on the required approval stages leading to the implementation of the COS document”, she said.
The Unions had noted in their letter that ‘Management has taken for granted the maturity and social responsibility that our members have been displaying to ensure that the Agency continues to discharge its duties and responsibilities, meeting up with global aviation standards, as the Management has been dithering on the full execution of the reviewed Conditions of Service which lapsed since 2012.
They added that a review which ought to take place every two years yet in 2016, Management feels comfortable that several workers shall be left behind at the same sordid social and economic conditions of 2012, when every sane person knows the global economic downturn, high exchange rate and inflation has eaten deep into the take home pay of workers.
