Unions in aviation industry in Nigeria today commended the Managements of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) for their outstanding performances at addressing labour matters.
The unions, however, urged the managements of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian meteorological services (Nimet) and others alleged to have many anti labour policies in their system to embrace extant labour laws.
The words of commendations were delivered today, on behalf of other unions in the aviation industry by the National President of Air Transportation Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) Comrade Ahmadu Ilitrus during the May Day rally held at the ATSSSAN’s National Secretariat, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Ilitrus who claimed that May Day symbolises Workers Congress, said the day is about speech making on the achievements in their struggles against anti labour practices.
The labour leader who said the unions have collectively achieved some feats during the last one year of their struggles against anti labour practices in the aviation industry, commended the managements of FAAN and AIB out of the six government agencies in the sector.
Meanwhile, the unions have urged NCAA to review its organogram or ready to face the wrath of the unions in aviation industry. The union leader alleged that NCAA has not reviewed the organogram which it has been using since 2001 to accommodate expansion witnessed in the organisation.
“NCAA should review its obsolete organogram. There is the need to expand the organogram to accommodate the expansion at NCAA, But rather than doing this, the management has extinguished the positions of 47 assistant general Managers, merged directorates and departments. We have made our position known to the federal Government if this is not done, we would shut down the system”, the unions warned.
He, however, noted that while some other government agencies in the aviation industry are still bent on engaging in anti labour practices, the managements and workers at FAAN and AIB are having fantastic relationships.
Particularly, he said, “Conditions of Service in FAAN has been approved and released at the ministry level. While at AIB we are having fantastic relationship between the management and workers”.
However, the unions maintained its position against the concession of airports in the country saying, “We reject completely any policy that has to do with the concession of our airports. Because such policy negates revenue generation for the government, it negates job creation for the teeming population of Nigerian youths. Our past experiences have shown that concessions in Nigeria would not do the nation any good”.
Speaking on the achievements recorded in the industry within the last 12 months, the union leader who commended the his members for their commitments in their struggle against anti labour policies in the aviation sector in Nigeria, recalled that workers at Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria now have every cause to smile because they could earn severance benefits while leaving the services of the aviation training institution; a situation which hitherto was alien to the system.
Similarly, he said workers at Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) can now unionise and also enjoy terminal benefits whenever they chose to leave the services of the airport terminal operator.
Ilitrus said this was possible after a three day industrial action recently carried out on the premises of the organisation following the sack of some workers in the services of the company who showed their intentions to unionise. He said the workers were relieved of their jobs without given adequate terminal packages.
The union leader who described those sacked workers as the martyrs of struggle for unionism at Bi- Courtney (MMA2), explained that after two days the management of Bi-Courtney realized the determination of the unions to continue with the picketing of the premises of MMA2 and the losses incurred, the management called for negotiations and acceded to the workers demands,
He also recalled that similar situations recorded at Arik, Aero and Caverton airlines yielded outstanding results for the labour unions and the workers
