The Federal Government has announced it has held meetings with aviation worker unions to prevent a strike that would affect Nigeria’s aviation industry.
This was disclosed by Labour Minister, Chris Ngige after he held a meeting with heads of aviation worker unions.
The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), and the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), threatened to go on strike from the 8th of February over poor welfare, and things they say are unimplemented agreements with the government.
Read: Why aviation workers are going on strike
What the Labour Minister is saying
The Minister praised the aviation worker unions for giving a necessary warning to the Ministry.
”Therefore, you had to escalate the matter by issuing an ultimatum to close the entire air space. I can see that all of you are here, both the traffic controllers and engineers.
”We thought there may be some openings in the air space, but I can see that all of you are united.
”I can assure you that we are going to reach agreements here and some of the agreements will be reached with the speed of a flash and we will get back to them,” he said.
Read: ASUU explains reason for declaring lecture-free day as nationwide strike looms
He added that the union and Aviation Ministry agreed on March 31 as the timeline for the consummation of its conciliation agreement, adding that he is aware of their complaints and called all the stakeholders, including the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) and the Federal Ministry of Aviation.
He added he had discussed the issue in particular with the President Buhari, who he says does not believe a worker is not due his remunerations in terms of salaries and allowances.
”Some allowances that have not been fine-tuned, once fine-tuned, the government will pay because the President was a wage earning person all through his military career.
Read: Aviation: Nigeria Air to launch operations from April 2022 – FG
”If you cannot pay all, the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations allow you to do ability to pay at the time in question so that you can stagger payment. But, we will agree on things today, put timelines on them and it will be done,” Ngige said.
Mr Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation, who said the worker union agitations were lawful, however, described the agitation as something in-house between the ministry and its parastatals.
What you should know
Nairametrics reported last month that Aviation worker Unions said its members are threatening a strike over alleged poor condition of service. They said they refuse to continue rendering services without valid conditions of service.
The various unions include members of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals, and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers.
