The fate of the Nigerian workers who were sacked by Turkish Airlines is scheduled to get a look in as the management of the airline in Nigeria and the leadership of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) meet this Wednesday June 10, 2020.
The workers were laid off by the airline as a cost-cutting measure arising from the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
Reports monitored on The Independent (Nigeria) stated that the airline may suspend passenger and cargo operations into Nigeria if safe operations could not be guaranteed.
According to the newspaper, a source close to the union confided on Tuesday that both parties agreed to meet at the airline’s office in Lagos to discuss a way forward of the impasse.
The union had in a letter dated May 29, 2020 with the reference number: NUATE.GS/IA.C.TURKAIR/ENPDG3-2020, addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of the airline in Istanbul, Turkey with the head: ‘Re-Termination of employment – Notice of Withdrawal of Services,’ threatened to withdraw all handling services to the airline indefinitely from June 1, 2020.
The union in the letter signed by Comrade Ocheme Aba, the General Secretary of NUATE, stated that the union had on May 25, 2020 written a letter to the management of the airline, but regretted that the airline did not respond to its letter for dialogue as at May 31, 2020.
The letter read in part: “This leaves us no other option than to take other lawful actions to compel your management to comply with Nigerian labour law as well as imbibe good industrial relations practice.
“Accordingly, take notice that all handling services by all aviation workers in Nigeria are hereby declared unavailable to Turkish Airlines indefinitely, with effect from Monday 1, 2020. By this notice, you are informed that any Turkish Airlines flight into Nigeria as from the given date, including cargo flight, will be stranded and not attended to.
“This action will remain in place until our demands in the letter under reference are fully satisfied.”
Source: independent.ng
