Aviation workers serve notice of strike action

The aviation industry may begin the new year with a strike action by workers in the sector except the management of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is able to meet their demands.

This is as the National Union of Air Transport Employees and the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria have threatened to embark on a strike action by January 2, if the NCAA fail to accede to their demands for the promotion of their members.

The unions stated this on Sunday, adding that the NCAA had been taking them for granted over the welfare of their members.

The Chairman, Joint Action Committee, NCAA and Chairman of NUATE, NCAA branch, Lucky Izebhokun, while speaking on the planned industrial action, said the system in the agency had discouraged workers who would come out to protest on the said date.

He further stated that the management has relegated the staff of NCAA to the point that they employ and transfer people from other organisations to head some senior staff in the agency.

He said: “We have had issues with people being transferred from the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency especially, because there is no promotion in NCAA, and you will see them bossing the people in NCAA, we have told the management that we can no longer accept that.

“We wrote and told the management and gave them three weeks; there will be serious issues. We are talking about promotion from level 14 to 15 and 16 that is the senior management cadre.”

According to Izebhokun, if the union failed to curtail the excesses of the agency, it would spread.

Read also: Four Nigerian airline operators sanctioned by NCAA

Also speaking, the Chairman of ATSSSAN, NCAA branch, Ayodele Sofolayan, said the issue of promotion in the agency had already generated a lot of anxiety among its workers.

He said: “We have been on this issue for the past year and we have not seen any good result. We have given the management of the NCAA an ultimatum to either get this promotion done or we declare a state of emergency.

“We have discussed with a lot of people about what we are going to do; we have to force the management to conduct promotion examination without the organogram. The organogram is long overdue, so we cannot continue to wait.”

In his reaction, the General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, Sam Adurugboye, assured that the agency and the unions would reach a compromise, insisting that the NCAA had been known for industrial harmony.

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