Labour Unrests and Safety of the Nation’s Airspace

The labour unions in the aviation industry, including the Air Transport Service Senior Staff Association (ATSSSAN) the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) ad well as other bodies like National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Nigeria Air Traffic Controllers Association and the National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAATE) have over the years held the aviation agencies on their toes.

These unions protect the interest of their members and ensured that the agencies do not compromise on their welfare by threatening to shut down the airspace anytime they want to beat the agencies into line. But in recent years, aviation industry watchers have realised that the labour unions have contributed to the decay and retrogression in the sector because they are only interested in the immediate welfare of their members and not the long-term development of the sector.

Agency management officials have noted that the labour unions have brought a lot of politics to the aviation industry and in some cases, they have become so partisan to the extent that individuals pursuing personal interests use them to achieve their goals.

There was an intance some years ago when individual negotiations between Pan Express, a company in charge of the collection of revenue from cargo passages for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), and the leadership of the agency failed because the company refused to be extorted further in order to maintain the contract with FAAN, the labour union was invited to stop the operations of the company. No procedure was followed.

The labour leaders did not want to know exactly why Pan Express was to be moved. They used force to oust the company. Also, few years later when Maevis, the company that provided the facilitation equipment and collected revenues for FAAN was battling with the agency, of course the labour was fully behind FAAN but while Maevis provided comprehensive figures and statistics on its own case and stressed the agreement it had with FAAN, the labour unions could not bring details in their allegation with Maevis.

Today many of the aviation agencies do not follow any training procedure. In the past, there were defined training programme, which ensures that everyone must go for training but in the past few years it has not been so. Due to the interferences of the Ministry of Aviation that forces the agencies to fund its programmes and activities, these agencies do not have enough resources to carry out training programmes in accordance to the recommendation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

At the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), there are technical workers who have been there for four years but had not gone for any training. The Air Traffic Controllers usually threaten to down tools before the management approved their training and because the engineers are not so defiant, they were denied their training most of the time. So what is obtainable in the aviation industry is a situation whereby the union leaders use threat to secure opportunities and funding for themselves and not for the general welfare of the workers.

In NAMA for example, NATCA executive members are always going for training. It has been noticed that whenever they threaten the management, the executive members would be sent for training or given juicy transfers. This has become a self-serving venture without consideration to the future of the agencies. So far it is only the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) that carries out training programme as enshrined in its procedures. Compared to FAAN, NAMA is doing far better, but more is expected from the agency.

Aviators and others have also frowned on the way the unions threaten to close the airspace whenever they want to drive their agitation. An official with the Aeronautical Information Service in NAMA told THISDAY that whenever labour makes the threat it jeorpardises air operation because international airlines that operate into Nigeria become confused whether the airspace would close or not and they start making frantic calls for confirmation. There are indications that on that bare threat international flights had been canceled and locally, many engagements have been aborted.

The source enjoined labour not to drive it’s agitation too far to the extent that it would jeorpardise air service, noting that “closure of the airspace can be a decision taken by the federal government and no other; so when such threat comes from labour, it lowers the image of Nigeria in the international community.”

A former CEO in one of the agencies told THISDAY that the agitation by labour in the industry is lip service. He said the labour unions are not interested in the long-term growth of the sector or the overall interest of the workers. However, it gave kudos to NUATE, noting that it is the only union that fights for the interest of workers not only in government agencies but also the airline staff, ground handling companies and others; noting that lanour should about training, “because manpower development should be paramount to them to ensure that the sector has skilled personnel.”

“It is known in the industry that when the union leaders make noise they want to be settled and when you settle them they no more talk about technical deficiency in the airspace or other problems. But there were times they were defied and nothing happens. They cannot close the airspace; they do not have the right to close the airspace. It is only in the time of war that the airspace can be closed. In fact, it is treason to threaten to close the airspace. What you can do is to down tools. When you do that the agency will find a replacement. It has happened in NAMA severally,” the source said.

In this new dispensation it is expected that labour should rediscover itself to cater for the interest of its members and the growth of the