Conditions of Service: AUPCTRE issues ultimatum, joins forces to ground aviation

The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees  (AUPCTRE) has called for the implementation of the negotiated conditions of Service of all the agencies’ workers under the Ministry of Aviation which it said had lingered on for nine years.

This union stated this in a petition to the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika in a letter dated January 12, 2022, and signed by its General Secretary, Sikiru Toyin Waheed in which all the agencies were copied including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Waheed lamented that it is on record that the approved 2019 National Minimum Wage/Consequential Adjustments have not been implemented for workers in the aviation industry, adding that this had resulted in sustained agitation by workers in the industry.

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The union however threatened that if “these two issues are not addressed on or before January 31, 2022, the union cannot guarantee industrial peace in the aviation industry”.

For the past one week, the aviation industry has been set on the edge as all the aviation unions have threatened to cause disruptions to services in the sector which could cripple the sector should they make good their threat.

Aviation workers under the aegis of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) have protested against the poor condition of service of workers of the various aviation agencies, which have been on for seven years.

Also, the Association of Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) have called for expeditious review of the condition of service of workers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET).

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The groups in a joint communiqué signed by Deputy General Secretary, Air Transport Senior Staff of Nigeria Francis Akinjole, General Secretary, NUATE, Ocheme Aba, Secretary-General ANAP, Abdulrazaq Saidu, and Deputy General Secretary NAAPE, Umoh Ofonime, equally called for the implementation of minimum wage/consequential adjustment that had been on since April 2019 in all aviation agencies, save for the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT). (ATSAAN)

The union leaders in their submission lamented that they had run out of explanation to their members as to the basis for the delay in releasing the condition of service of the affected agencies and have come under unbearable in this respect from members.

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The affected members have severally expressed their resolutions not to continue to render services without valid conditions of service.

According to them,” our unions have severally conveyed our frustration over the aforementioned issues and have engaged the agencies’ management and other government agencies involved, including the Ministry of Aviation over the years with only minimal result.

Wole Shadare