News: Foreign Airlines to Lay Off 2,000 Nigerian Workers - NUATE

National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) - Foreign airlines operating in Nigeria may soon lay off about 2,000 local workers, air transport workers union has alerted. The planned sack; according to sources, was a sequel to the ongoing economic recession that has led to a 30 per cent drop in passenger traffic on both domestic and foreign airlines.

For the foreign airlines in particular, foreign exchange scarcity and the depreciation of the nairahave not helped matters as more customers continue to defer foreign travels, especially holidays and tours.

According to the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), an umbrella union for aviation workers in Nigeria, there are strong indications that foreign airlines have concluded alTangements to sack staff they considered surplus to requnument.

NUATE called on the Federal Government to resist the move, which formed part of a new policy decision taken recently by the airlines as they target to shrink their overseas operations and cut down on ovethead.

Daily Sun learnt that some Nigerian staff in management positions at the foreign airlines are also protesting against the impending staff retrenchment in the airlines, and it was this internal protest that led to the leakage of the plarmed 2,000 staff sack to the union.

But for the airlines, the Nigerian government is not helping their operations as the CBN had fiuiled to allow them to repatriate fluids out of the country in the last nine to 10 months, a trend they said was threatening their businesses.

In a letter to the Minister of Transportation, entitled, “Save Our Souls and the Jobs of over Two Thousand Workers”, the air workers’ union said it was also important that the government wades in to resolve the issues between the airlines and the Central l3ank of Nigeria (CBN) and ensure that earnings by foreign airlines held by the CBN is released to allow them meet peratrorrd co

“Information has just filtered into our ears that all is not well with the foreign airlines operating in Nigeria as they are planning massive reduction in the numbers of their employees (over 2,000 workers) in order to cut costs and shrink their operations,” said NUATE in the letter signed by its General Secretary Olayinka Abioye.

Source: Daily Sun