OPINION: Why Would Dana Air Pay its Workers Half Salary?

Information reaching Newsleverage has it that Dana Air paid half salaries to its workers who worked from 1st of March to 25th of March, 2020, while we learnt from reliable sources that other Airlines paid their staff a complete one month salary for the same period.

This is quite shocking as the staff were duly reporting to work until they were told to stop because of coronavirus which is a global pandemic.

That the Indian-run airline in Nigeria will treat Nigerian workers this way in our own land leaves little or nothing to be desired.

That treatment Dana Air meted out to its staff is inhuman. Paying half salary to staff who worked till 25th of March, 2020 before the COVID-19 lockdown, when other airlines paid theirs in full, is highly exploitative, oppressive and unacceptable.

Need we remind owners and management of Dana Air that Nigeria, just as the whole world, is currently in a pandemic situation which no one knows when it will end, yet, one cannot deny the fact that Nigerians, most especially those who have worked for their pay, need money to restock for as long as possible. They deserve their due pay.

Do we also need to remind Dana Air of the enormous sacrifice, including supreme ones, its workers make to keep the airline afloat? Yet, they can’t treat their staff right,?

The Minister of Aviation, the Nigeria Labour Congress, relevant agencies and well-meaning Nigerians should look into this issue and intervene urgently before such exploitative antics become the order of the day in our aviation industry. The regulations regarding workers’ deserved pay must be complied with by Dana Air in this instance as we expect them to do always.

Employers should never trample on the rights of their employees, no matter the circumstance.

It should never happen!

Written by Nneka Torti