By Fred Chukwuelobe
That statement was made in an interview by Frances Akinjole, General Secretary of the Air Transport Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSAN), during the ongoing dispute involving Air Peace and aviation unions.
Mr. Akinjole reportedly went further, claiming that only two airlines in Nigeria allow unionisation and invoking Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution to justify the unions’ position.
To my mind, this goes beyond an ordinary labour dispute. The language of the attack raises a question: is the objective genuinely to protect workers’ interests, or is industrial action being deployed in a manner capable of damaging Air Peace’s reputation? Who are these unionists working for?
Calling Air Peace “the champion of bad airlines in Nigeria” is not, by itself, a labour argument. It is a sweeping indictment of a prominent Nigerian airline. If a union official has evidence of regulatory, operational or labour violations, the proper course is to present that evidence to the relevant authorities and allow the law to take its course. Inflammatory language does not strengthen a labour case.Section 40 of the 1999 constitution as amended deserves careful examination.
