The planned resumption of flight and airports operations in Nigeria on the 21 of June as announced by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 might be a mirage except the President, Muhammadu Buhari urgently address pressing demands by unions in the Nigeria aviation industry.
The unions has initially given the Nigerian leader a two weeks ultimatum to direct agencies in the aviation sector pay their staff full salaries, failure which will lead to industrial unrest.
The ultimatum was arrived at following an emergency meeting involving the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) in Lagos.
The workers representatives noted that the pulse of the workers lamentation shows that they can no longer contain the wailing of the workers.
The duo of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) are currently locked in discussions with the workers unions over their inability to continue to pay salaries as a result of the excruciating impacts of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic on the revenue of both agencies.
The letter that detailed the agreement reached by the unions was signed by NUATE Secretary General, Ocheme Abah, Secretary General, ANAP, Abdul Rasaq Saidu, Deputy Secretary, ATSSSAN, Francis Akinjole, and Babatunde Omotola of AUPCTRE.
addressing President Mohammadu Buhari, the document noted that “the situation requires urgent attention and mitigation to avert a looming national crisis”.
According to them, they disclosed that the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency NAMA has indicated it inability to continue to pay its workers normal salaries while it will take a miracle for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria FAAN to pay salary for the month of June.
The document notes that “It took commendable effort on the part of the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to pay salaries for the month of May. The possibility of another such miracle for the month of June is rather bleak.”
“At the same time, the Management of NAMA has informed its in-house Unions about its inability to continue to pay normal salaries.” And as in within public domain most Aviation companies have sent their workers home without salaries for months now while some are paying only a fraction of salaries to workers on essential duties compelled to come to work.”
They informed President Buhari that as a result of the adverse socio-economic situation imposed by the COVID19, aviation workers have been dealt a larger portion of the burden to bear due to no fault of theirs, adding that the burden has become unbearable for the workers.
We can no longer contain the wailings of our members and should the situation of no salary or incomplete salary remain beyond the 15th of June, 2020,the only option left for us will be to ask all aviation workers to remain at home pending when their salaries can be guaranteed, they warned.
“This burden, has become exceedingly telling on the workers and the cost has become unbearable. Our Unions can no longer contain the wailings of our members,the Aviation workers.”
“In the light of the above reality,our Unions are constrained to serve notice that should the situation of no salary,or incomplete salary , remain beyond the 15th of June, 2020, the only option left for our Unions will be to ask all aviation workers to remain at home pending when their salaries can be guaranteed.”
The unions added that “This option will be inevitable as we are unable to justify the continuation of the present unfairness whereby the workers have to use their own meagre resources to finance their commune to and from work under the very difficult COVID19 transportation challenge”.
FAAN, manager of the airports in Nigeria provides critical services for the smooth operations of airlines while NAMA provides flight information to airlines among others.
