The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has appealed to aviation unions to suspend their ongoing industrial action, urging restraint pending the return of the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo.
The appeal came as industrial action by aviation unions disrupted flight operations on Tuesday, leaving passengers stranded at some airports, amid a dispute involving domestic airlines, unionisation of workers and the remittance of the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge, TSC.
In a statement dated August 11 and signed by the Director-General of Civil Aviation, Capt. Chris Ona Najomo, the NCAA said it was aware of the impact of the industrial action on passengers and other stakeholders in the aviation sector.
“The NCAA appeals to the unions to sheathe their swords and exercise restraint pending the return of the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), who has been actively working towards resolving the issues,” the statement said.
The regulator said the minister had convened a meeting last week to address the dispute, “but the meeting could not hold because airline operators failed to honour the invitation.”
It said the development “had contributed to the escalation of the disagreement between the unions and domestic airline operators.”
The aviation unions, including the National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, and National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, NAAPE, had threatened industrial action over alleged anti-union practices by some airlines and the non-remittance of the five per cent TSC.
The unions accused some domestic airlines of “preventing their workers from freely joining trade unions” and demanded that the affected airlines “issue clear directives assuring employees of their right to unionise without fear of victimisation.”
They also demanded “the immediate remittance of the TSC allegedly collected but not remitted to aviation agencies.”
The unions said “the withheld funds were affecting the implementation of negotiated conditions of service for workers in various aviation agencies.”
The dispute escalated on Tuesday when aviation unions, “backed by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, shut down operations of Air Peace in Lagos and Abuja.”