The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika has requested that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige plan to forestall the industrial action planned by workers in the aviation industry by calling for a conciliation meeting over the non-implementation of the Minimum Wage/ Consequential Adjustment in the aviation parastatal since 2019 and non-approval/ release of the reviewed condition of service in the parastatal under the Ministry of Aviation.
Sirika made this known during a meeting between both ministries at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
“The National Salaries Income 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 Adjustment.
“The Ministry of Aviation is to circulate the circular in the consequential minimum wage adjustment to all the agencies under the supervision of her ministry, requesting them to implement the National Minimum Wage Consequential Adjustment without any further delay and also clarified that this payment becomes effective from April 18, 2019, when the minimum wage was signed into law. The meeting agreed that those that have exited the system during the period from 18/4/2019 to date would also be paid the arrears.
“The meeting noted that some categories of workers in the sector attracted some peculiar allowances which are not extended to others and stated that those salary structures that not captured in the memorandum of terms of settlement signed and dated October 9th, 14th,15th, 16th,17th, and 18th 2019 between the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and Organised Labour on consequential adjustment of the other wages would attract consequential adjustment as agreed during the negotiation with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUCN) in October 2019.
“The meeting, therefore, concluded that all the agencies that have not paid the national minimum wage write to NSIWC through the Ministry of Aviation for consideration/ evaluation. The NSIWC promised to process all, as soon as possible.
“The parties agreed that the Consequential Adjustment of the New Minimum Wages (NMW) of 2009 based on the approved government template be implemented on or before the end of the first quarter of the year 2022 (March 31st, 2022).
“The meeting noted that the issue is a protected one, has been ongoing for about nine (9) years and stated that management must take more proactive steps to conclude the review of the condition of service to boost the morale of the workers and retain the best technical staff in the industry.
“The meeting was informed that the financial implementation of the Condition of Service (COS) for the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMeT) has been approved by the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS); hence, the whole process for NiMeT has been concluded except for hazard allowances which would be reconsidered by the NSIWC on a sectorial level. [This is why] the NSIWC is to release this approved COS immediately.
“The meeting, however, noted that the COS for Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) require establishment input and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) to update the Ministry of Aviation on the aspects of their COS by Friday, February 11, 2022 and copy the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment
“The meeting agreed that the financial aspect for NAMA and NCAA would be resolved by the PCS by the third week of February 2022,” Sirika said.
Ngige, however, said that immediately the new National Minimum Wages (NMW) was signed into law there were bound to be some adjustments both in the public and private sectors of the economy arising from the variation of salary overlaps because of the percentage increase of the minimum wage from N18,000 to N30,000.
