Akwa Ibom airport workers begin strike over welfare
Workers at Ibom International Airport have proceeded on an industrial
action alleging that the Akwa Ibom State Government has refused to pay them salaries that are commensurate with the standard obtainable in aviation industry.
The workers, operating under the auspices of Nigerian Union of Air Transport Employees, protested in Okobo on Monday, claiming that the government had also declined to regularise some of their members’ appointments, who had been working since the facility was inaugurated in 2010.
It was learnt that NUATE and other affiliate unions at the airport decided to go on strike to renew their call for the government to fulfill the agreement it reached with the union sometimes last year.
“This morning (Monday), workers at the airport resolved to embark on the industrial action because the Akwa Ibom State Government has refused to heed their demands of a better welfare package; payment of salaries commensurate with aviation industry scale and casualisation of labour,” a member of the security unit, who refused to disclose his name, told our correspondent.
The Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Emmanuel Enoidem, asked the workers to go back to their work, assuring them that the state government would address their grievances soon.
It was, however, gathered that since the inauguration of the airport in 2010, by the state governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, workers’ outcry over the state government’s non-commitment to their welfare, had been a regular feature.
Post from Punch
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