By Dickson Omobola
The decision of aviation unions to picket Nigeria’s largest airline, Air Peace, Tuesday, has elicited sharp criticism from stakeholders in the country’s air transport sector, with many saying the action constituted serious safety and security concerns.
From the early hours of Tuesday until about noon, members of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, and the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, backed by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, disrupted Air Peace’s operations over the alleged non-remittance of the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge, TSC, to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, and the right of workers to unionise.
The industrial action followed a series of ultimatums the unions said they issued to the Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON. The latest came on August 7, when the unions gave airlines a three day notice, threatening to picket operators that failed to remit the statutory five per cent TSC to the NCAA and allow their staff to join aviation unions.
Acting on the threat, union members converged on the domestic terminals of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, where they singled out Air Peace, blocked access to its counters and prevented the airline’s scheduled flights from departing until the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, intervened.
