Guardian Nigeria
.NLC vows to continue picketing until demands are met
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has intervened in the feud between the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and Turkish Airlines to allow the airline to airlift its Nigeria passengers, who had been stranded at the international wing of Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos and Istanbul, following the picketing of the airline by the aviation union on Tuesday.
This happened as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) vowed to continue to picket the airline until their demands were met.
A statement signed by the Vice Chairman, Lagos State Council, Olabisi Idowu, said following the intervention of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Police Force and Directorate of State Security, Airports Command, the Congress decided to allow the stranded passengers at the Lagos and Istanbul airports, who were booked on the flights for 21/05/2024 to be airlifted by Turkish Airlines.
They said the decision was purely on humanitarian grounds, insisting that the picketing would continue until all the demands of NLC were fully met.
NCAA Director, Consumer Protection and Publicity, Michael Achimugu, had, on Wednesday evening after meeting with the Country Manager of Turkish Airlines in Nigeria, promised to meet with the union yesterday to resolve the impasse.
The meeting had representatives of NUATE, led by its General Secretary, Ochema Aba, the Lagos Regional Manager NCAA, Mrs Bukola Teriba, among others.
Recall that NUATE on Tuesday disrupted flight operations of the airline following the dismissal of seven members of staff of the airline for engaging in unionism.
To counter this claim, the airline in a statement by its Media Relations Department, accused the sacked seven Nigerian employees of engaging in various ticket racketeering to the tune of $600,000 in 2023, thereby causing it serious financial losses within the period.
The airline regretted that despite the involvement of the union in the disciplinary committee, which indicted the seven workers and led to the advice to resign from its establishment, the unions refused to sign on disciplinary action against the erring members of staff.
According to the airline, NUATE was invited and acted as a member of the disciplinary committee against the erring employees, where it was established, after the presentation of evidence detailing the employees’ wrongdoings, that they were liable for gross misconduct and ought to be dismissed.
The airline declared that it had no tolerance for illegal and wrongful actions and emphasised that it would take similar action against such practices in the future no matter who was involved.
