Aviation workers have on Tuesday suspended their planned industrial action following an fresh agreement reached with the Federal Government.
The strike was planned to commence on Tuesday but the workers made a u-turn on their plan after a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) reached by the workers and the Federal Ministry of Aviation in the early hours of Tuesday.
Both parties signed the agreement at the end of the meeting which was held at the instance of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
The MoS was signed at a meeting held at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. The meeting started at about 6pm on Monday and ended on Tuesday morning.
Some of the issues discussed include non-implementation of Minimum Wage consequential adjustment in the Aviation Parastatals since 2019 and the non-approval/release of the reviewed conditions of service in the parastatals.
The meeting which was presided over by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, discussed the non-implementation of the Minimum Wage consequential adjustment in the aviation parastatals since 2019 and the non-approval/release of the reviewed conditions of service in the parastatals.
At the meeting between the union leaders, the Minister of Aviation and the Minister of Labour, it was agreed that by March 31, the Ministry of Aviation must ensure the approval, release and implementation of the reviewed CoS for all the workers in the agencies under the aviation ministry.
Chris Ngige who addressed newsmen after the meeting, said after exhaustive deliberations on the issues which the parties agreed as germane, they resolved that;
The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), was requested to issue a service-wide circular informing all organisations in the public and private sectors that they are bound to implement the National Minimum Wage of 2019/consequential adjustments.
The Ministry of Aviation is to circulate the circular on the consequential minimum wage adjustment to all the agencies under the supervision of the ministry, requesting them to implement the National Minimum Wage consequential adjustment without any further delay and also clarify that this payment became effective from April 18, 2019, when the Minimum Wage was signed into law.
Ngige also said that those who had exited the system during the period from April 18, 2019, to date, would also be paid the arrears.
