We’re Treated Like Slaves, Toothless Bull Dogs–Aviation Unions Explain Strike Action

Unions in the aviation industry have disclosed that their members are treated like toothless bulldogs on different occasions in the various parastatals in the sector.

The workers commenced a two-day warning strike today while blocking the entrance leading to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja and Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.

The unions revealed this to newsmen at the event while noting that they have been pushed to the wall, as workers were forced to work in unconducive conditions meant for slaves.

The Secretary of Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Francis Akejole, said there will be a total withdrawal of service with no limit to what measures of actions will be taken.

Akejole said “We are not going to limit our actions on the strike because we have been subjected to a condition that has become unbecoming as a worker. Workers are enslaved, they are working without conditions of service this is slavery.

“We are not treated as essential staff, so upgrading our minimum wage is a problem and even with the peanut upgrade our staffs are still not paid.

“Recently just because they have seen that we are toothless bulldogs we have been threatened on various accounts by the ministry that they will demolish the corporate headquarters,” He said.

He also revealed that workers were relocated to Abuja without proper policy implementation, “They have taken all the workers to Abuja and several places for which they have not made accommodation provisions. They know what to do if the strike must be stopped”.

Also speaking is the National Treasurer of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) Comrade Safiya Amga who said there is no going back on the strike action.

Amga said that workers had been pushed to the wall at the various parastatals of the industry, including the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET), and the National Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

She said, “There are issues that have been standing for years with no solutions, after the two days warning strike ending Tuesday, if we don’t agree on anything we will shut down the aviation industry”.

THE WHISTLER earlier reported that aviation workers have accused the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, of plotting to cripple the Murtala International Airport, Lagos as the hub of the aviation sector in Nigeria.