Workers sue KLM

Some aggrieved staff of KLM Airline in Accra have dragged the company to the High Court (Labour Division) over salary increment.

The plaintiffs, who are members of the KLM Staff Association of Ghana, comprising workers of various departments of the company, claim the company had failed to fulfill its obligation to the workers with regards to salaries and other benefits due them.

The plaintiffs alleged that since 2003 they had persistently impressed upon on their employer to increase their salaries per various letters they had written but to no avail.

The KLM staff, in a statement of claim filed by Vincent Aikins of 1st Law Chambers in Accra, stated among others that since 2006 there has not been any adjustment in the salaries of the plaintiffs even though conditions of market labour and competition development had seriously sky-rocketed.

The plaintiffs stated that when they issued a threat to lay down their tools, the defendant quickly ran to the Labour Commission to resolve the impasse between them because they were in the peak season of Christmas.

The aggrieved staff contended that unless the court intervened, the plaintiffs would take them for granted and continue to trample on their rights to fair wages and benefits.

As a result, the plaintiffs, aside cost, wants the court to order the airline company to pay interest on the amount due them from the date the increment should have taken place till the date of final payment.

. The plaintiffs prayed the court to order KLM to fulfill its obligations by complying with Article 4:3:1 of the collective barging agreement between the Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) and the General Transport and Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union of the Trades Union Congress.