- We will respond appropriately-NAAPE
Six pilots, one cabin crew member and three ground staff had their appointments terminated after they complained in a WhatsApp group over the delay in their October salaries.
One of the workers who spoke to Meganews under condition of anonymity explained that ever since the industry was affected by the lockdown of the airspace for five months, which started in March till July, things had been bad.
The source said slashed salaries had become their lot, adding that they were paid based on the number of flights they undertook, unlike what was obtained in the past.
One of the sources said, “When COVID-19 started, they stopped paying salaries for three months. That was understandable because they were not flying and all the airports were closed. Then they called some people back when the industry resumed but they never went back to pay them based on the contracts they signed.
“The workers were not okay with salary cut but they accepted it because they did not have a better option. As of yesterday morning, they had not paid October salaries. They never pay on time and always delay into the next month. They don’t pay until like the 6th or 10th. So these guys were complaining on the group that they had not been paid.”
The source explained that the pilots and others were sacked when the screenshots of the chats in the WhatsApp group where they were venting their frustrations were sent to the owner of the airline.
“He decided to retaliate by firing them. He picked some people and fired them. He fired a total of six pilots – three captains and three first officers. They were fired because they were complaining about the delay in salary payment.”
Though the letter of termination did not indicate the reason why they were fired, however, another source said, “What happened was salaries. After COVID-19, the airline said it would start paying per flight. Before, the airline was paying a flat rate. Captains were earning N3 million.
“Now, they say per every landing, it is about N28,000. That means if you do not fly for that month, you don’t get paid. If you do one landing, let’s say you are sick or on leave, which means you only get that N28,000. If you fly 50 times or 60 times, then they multiply it by 50 or 60 and pay.
“Their point is that they do not want pilots to earn more than N2.1 million per month. Normally, they stop computing the flights from the 25th so that they can make the calculations and pay the salaries before the 30th.
“However last month, they stopped it at 25th, they confirmed and verified the number of flights everyone had undertaken and they did not pay from 30th, all the way till 6th.”
He added, “In the morning of November 6th, people started complaining and asked why they stopped the calculations of their flights on the 25th. Workers started giving suggestions and everyone wasn’t really happy with the situation because everyone could see that the airline was making money.
“We fly the airline and we know roughly how many passengers we carry and how many are on every flight to break even. After COVID-19, the passenger figure was very good because it was like people were waiting to start flying.”
The source noted that salaries finally came in on November 6th for October but a few were sacked as a punishment.
He said, “They paid on the 6th in the afternoon between 3pm and 5pm. After that, nobody spoke. Most pilots complained about the salary but they were not sacked, they selected a few and terminated their appointments.
“They just said their services were no longer required. In all, six pilots – three captains and three co-pilots, one cabin crew and three ground staff were asked to leave.”
The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers confirmed the development in a telephone chat.
He said, “We would soon release a press statement. We are consulting on it.”
Also, NAAPE President, Abednego Galadinma, said, “I just got the information, and we are going to respond appropriately. I can confirm to you that something like that happened and Azman did not follow the due process.
