The imbroglio at the nation’s airports have been resolved as two unions that went on strike Monday morning have reached agreement with the management of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO aviance).
Arising from the meeting with leaders of the two unions late yesterday afternoon, the parties agreed that the management of the ground handling firm withdraw the suit before the law court and also vacate the earlier court order restraining the workers from embarking on strike.
A resolution paper obtained by Blueprint correspondent showed that the nahco also agreed to issue a counter offer to the union’s demand before close of business Monday while negotiations of staff welfare would commence on Wednesday, 25th January.
The agreements also stipulated that all negotiations would be concluded with this week with all staff resuming work immediately while none of the staff who had embarked on strike should be victimized.
Speaking on the resolution at the end of the meeting held at NAHCOAviance House, the Group Executive Director, Sola Obabori, expressed sincere appreciation of the company to its clients who showed great understanding with NAHCO during the period of the strike action and to the passengers who were inconvenienced by the strike action.
He also expressed NAHCO’s deep appreciation to these esteemed clients, the large community of airline passengers who depend on NAHCO and to the stakeholders who have intervened in calming down the situation.
Passengers, domestic and foreign carriers were the worst hit on Monday as a section of the umbrella bodies of workers in the employ of West Africa foremost ground handler, NAHCO Aviance, embarked on industrial action to press home for better pay leading to chaos, cancellations and diversion of flights by airlines within and outside the country.
Nahco aviance handles check-in, boarding, ramp services for majority of the international carriers across airports in Nigeria as well offer services to domestic airlines.
As earlier as 12.am on Monday, the unions, the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the Air Transport Senior Staff Service Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) had down tooled across the airports where the ground handling firm offers services to clients, a situation that resulted in untold hardship to passengers who had arrived the airports to catch the early morning flights to their destinations across Nigeria where international airlines it was gathered made u-turns or diverted their Nigeria bound aircraft back to their base located at the nearest airports close to them.
The aviation unions, NUATE and ATSSSAN last week gave a five – day notice of strike to NAHCO management citing slow progress in negotiation for salary review.
Why aviation unions suspended strike
