Labour Commission Warns Antrax Air

The National Labour Commission has issued a final warning to Alhaji Asuma Banda, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Antrax Air and the Antrax Group, to appear it on October 31, 2018, to resolve the issue between the organisation and its former employees, or it will proceed and give a final verdict.

The warning comes as a result of the organisation's refusal to show up for a hearing scheduled for August 15, this year.

The commission indicated this in a letter, a copy of which The Chronicle has in its possession, that “the Commission, however, directs that a final invitation should be served on the parties, and should any party fail to appear, the Commission will proceed to hear and determine the dispute.”

It would be recalled that The Chronicle carried an article which indicated that a former employee of Antrax Air, Samuel Anator, and 47 others reported the executives of Antrax Air to the commission over some unpaid salaries and remuneration.

In the article, the employees demanded that Alhaji Asuma Banda and the Antrak Group Limited pay GH¢916,239.39 it owes them or face their wrath.

The total money is a summation of salaries and transport allowances spanning a period of three years, from December 2013 to June 2015 to August 2018.

According to Mr Samuel Anator and the 47 others involved in the case, salaries, transportation and allowances amount to GH¢27,000, while the remaining GH¢889,239.39 is made up of social security and staff savings.

Mr Anator said 'they' ran to The Chronicle because all other means, including a National Labour Commission (NLC) summons to get management refund their money, have proved futile.

He narrated that “in June 2015 we were given a notice from the General Manager that they are suspending operations for three months.

“We were informed by management that we will be paid half salary for the said three months suspension, but we received the half payment in only June and July.”

He said that he and his colleagues visited Mr Banda on April 5^th 2016 to reach a consensus, and the company assured them that the airline would resume operations within three months to settle the monies owed them, but the company has not resumed till date.

He explained that the failure of the company in fulfilling its promise compelled them to file suit against it, and subsequently reported the issue to the NLC.

A letter given to The Chronicle indicated that, the Commission, in accordance with section 139 of the Labour Act 2003, Act 561, wrote to management of the company on seven occasions, including August 17, 2018, to invite them to a meeting with the workers in order to resolve the issue, but the invitation wasn't honoured

The group has, therefore, vowed to go all extents to ensure that Antrak Air pays all remunerations due them.

Antrak Air was a Ghanaian scheduled airline based in the Airport Residential Area of Accra , Ghana .

It started operations in September 2003, but had to suspend operations following challenges with its wet lease arrangement with Swift Air, a Spanish airliner, for the use of the latter's two ATR 72-500 turbo prop aircraft.

It was reported in 2013 that Mr Banda said that the company was contemplating pulling out of the country's airline business due to challenges in getting passengers – despite a reported increase in domestic travel figures – a huge infrastructure deficit, high cost of doing business, and regulatory failure having made the domestic airline business unprofitable.