Aviation Not Essential Service, Workers Insist
Following the statement credited to the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika that strike is now illegal in the aviation industry, the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has insisted that aviation is not an essential service and as such strike cannot be outlawed.
Sirika had said with the new Act of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) recently assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, embarking on strike is now illegal as aviation has been classified as an essential service.
The unions had sometime last year staged demonstrations over what they called a clandestine clause in the New Civil Aviation Act, which classifies aviation as an essential service where strike would not be tolerated.
But the unions were told by the National Assembly committees that there was no such clause in any of the Acts.
However, there are fears among the unions that the clause, which they protested against, might have succeeded in finding its way into the Act.
Speaking with our correspondent yesterday, General Secretary of NUATE, Comrade Ocheme Aba insisted there cannot be such a clause in any of the Act based on the assurance they got from the National Assembly and the National Industrial Court ruling that aviation is not an essential service.
He said, “We don’t think there is any such thing in any Act. The National Assembly wrote to us officially and informed us that no essential service clause is in any Act either the ones passed as at that time or the ones yet to be signed by the president. We have copies of the ones passed and there are no such things.”
On the warning that strike would no longer be tolerated, he said, “He (minister) is completely behind the time. He is operating maybe from one remote village in Katsina where they have no access to the Internet because if he has… and we have also forwarded the ruling of the National Industrial Court to him that airlines do not provide essential services. So he is far behind the time. There are no such laws in Nigeria.”
The union leader however clarified that the strike, which disrupted flight operations on Monday was carried out by the workers and not the unions and expressed sadness over the “collateral damage” done to passengers.
“Our problem was not with the passengers. Our problem was with NAHCO and we did not withdraw services from the passengers, we withdrew services from NAHCO.
“The unions did not do any strike and the stakeholders were aware of what happened. It was because the unions were not involved that was why the impact was so heavy.”
