Aviation Workers To Shut Down Airport, Begin Strike Jan 2

Aviation Workers To Shut Down Airport, Begin Strike Jan 2

The National Union of Air Transport Employees and the Air Transport
Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria have threatened to down
tools by January 2, if the demand for promotion of their members in the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority is not met.

The unions, on Sunday, said 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, said the system in the agency had discouraged
workers who would come out to protest on the said date.

According
to him, the management has relegated the staff of NCAA so much so that
they will be employing and transferring 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.”

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

The
Chairman of ATSSSAN, NCAA branch, Ayodele Sofolayan, stated that the
issue of promotion in the agency had already generated a lot of anxiety
among its workers.

He added, “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.”

The General
Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, Sam Adurugboye, said the agency and the
union would reach a compromise, adding that the NCAA had been known for
industrial harmony.