Aviation Workers Suspend Proposed Strike after Peace Agreement with FG

• As FG agrees to pay minimum wage/consequential adjustment, approved reviewed Conditions of Service (CoS)

The Aviation unions have suspended the planned industrial action scheduled to hold today, Tuesday, February 8, 2022, as a result of the Federal Government truce to implement the minimum wage/consequential adjustment and approve the reviewed Conditions of Service (CoS).

The meeting to resolve the issues was brokered in the early hours of Tuesday, February 8 in Abuja at the instance of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment  with the leadership of all the associations and unions in the aviation industry and the Ministry of Aviation at the conference room of by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige.

The agreement reached and signed at the end of the meeting was that by March 31, the Ministry of Aviation must ensure the approval, release and implementation of the reviewed CoS for all the workers in the agencies under the aviation ministry.

Following the agreement that was signed by all the parties, the seven-day ultimatum issued for a planned industrial action was suspended.

Gentechnews had reported that the unions had on Wednesday, February 2, 2022 issued an ultimatum to the Federal Ministry of Aviation and its six aviation agencies of an impending strike over failure to release the negotiated CoS since 2013 and the non-implementation of minimum wage/consequential adjustment since 2019.

The Unions bemoaned their demands not being met as their ultimatum expired January 31 and gave the government seven days grace window to resolve the issue or they will commence an industrial action beginning from Tuesday, February 8, 2022.

The union leaders present at the meeting were the President, National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Abednego Galadima, National president of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Illitrus Danjuma, National president of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Ben Nnabue, National president of the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), Kabir Gusau and the National president of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service and Technical Employees (AUPCTRE), Benjamin Anthony.

Government officials present at the meeting include the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, permanent secretaries of the Ministries of Labour and Aviation, the chairman of the National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), representatives of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMeT), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations (TUSIR), Budget Office of the Federation as well as the Head of Civil Service.

National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) was requested to issue a Service Wide Circular informing all organisations in the public and private sectors on the issue of non-implementation of the minimum wage/consequential adjustment, that they are bound to implement the wage and adjustment, while the Ministry of Aviation is to circulate same to all agencies under its supervision, requesting them to implement it without further delay and also clarify that the payment became effective from April 18, 2019 when the minimum wage was signed into law.

The meeting accordingly agreed that those that have exited the system during the period under review to date would also be paid their arrears.