AVIATION unions have expressed its readiness to embark on an indefinite industrial action against thr Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) from Monday next week following what it called “fake CoS approval†and punitive transfer of union executive members.
The letter dated August 11, 2020, signed by Comrades Aba and Abdulrasaq Saidu, the General Secretaries of National Union ofAir Transport Employees( NUATE) and Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and made available to our correspondent said that before it decided to embark strike, it initially issued the management of NiMET 14 days ultimatum to ameliorate sundry long-standing issues, but the management failed to respond to any of the demands.
The letter added: “…Our unions, NUATE and ANAP hereby direct all workers of NiMET to commence total withdrawal of services indefinitely with effect from August 18, 2020 until otherwise decided by our leaderships.
“In respect of the above, we enjoin all workers in all stations nationwide to give total support and comply with this directive, and note that only instructions emanating from our secretariats are valid. Every other instruction or directive should be disregarded.â€
An affected staff who pled anonymity said that the demands of the unions included 2019 promotion arrears, accelerated promotion of workers, failure of management to convert graduate forecasters to meteorologist position and the accusation that the management dubiously removed all vital benefits from the initial document signed by relevant unions on CoS for staff.
The management was also accused of single-handedly accelerated promotions for staff from a particular part of the country, while more qualified staff were deliberately not promoted and remained stagnant in a position for years.
