Following the agreement reached between the management of Arik Air and the aviation workers unions, the airline has resumed flight operations.
This became possible after an exhaustive meeting at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA Headquarters in Lagos.
At the meeting which was attended by the chairman of Arik Arik, Sir Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide and the director-general of NCAA who was represented by Capt. Abdullahi Sidi, director operations and training of NCAA, it was agreed that the airline should resume flight operations after it was agreed that October salary would be paid on or before Friday December 23 while November salary would be paid on or before December
Arik Air and representatives of all the unions including NCAA signed the communiqué with the understanding that all agreed issues will be carried out.
Earlier before the agreement was reached, thousands of Arik Air passengers were stranded at the various airports the airline operate into following the shutting of its operations by the aviation workers unions over non payment of salary arrears of seven months without commitment to pay as at when due.
At the headquarters of the airline in Lagos, the workers were seen protesting and carrying placards calling on the management of the airline to pay them their salaries.
Some of the protesting workers were carrying placards with inscriptions like: Pay us our salary because an angry man is an accident waiting to happen, others read, a worker deserves his pay, among others.
The unions comprising of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, NAAPE, National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE and the Air Transport Services, Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN directed the commencement of a joint strike action at Arik air with effect from 00:00hrs of Tuesday December 20th, 2016.
The unions demanded that the management of Arik Air allow total unionisation of its employees in compliance with extant labour laws and with respect to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
That the management of Arik Air recall all sacked employees who has been victimised for their roles in the effort to bring about unionisation in Arik Air.
The Immediate review of all employee remunerations which have remained the same since inception of Arik Air over ten years ago.
Others include, Immediate commencement of negotiations of Conditions of Service to be concluded within four (4) weeks.
Remittance of Pension, Tax, and statutory deductions to the appropriate authorities. That the management of Arik complies with Nigerian Expatriate Quota law.
Meanwhile, the management of Arik Air has expressed dismay and disappointment that a group of aviation unions ambushed and disrupted their operations from early hours of Tuesday, December 20, 2016 by occupying its head office premises and preventing staff from gaining access to their workplace.
All Arik Air employees, aviation workers, and other stakeholders are hereby enjoined to ensure full compliance with this directive please.
A statement signed by the spokesman of the airline, Adebanji Ola stated that the representatives of the protesting unions also prevented the staff of the airline from gaining access to the General Aviation Terminal, GAT and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, disabling the checking-in of passengers for both domestic and international flights.
He noted that access to the airport terminals is fundamental to the airline’s operations for movement of its personnel to ready and dispatch their aircraft for various flights.
“The aviation unions under the aegis of National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and Air Traffic Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSAN) are protesting the non-unionisation of Arik Air staff who are not members of any of these protesting unions.
The union leadership had earlier written a letter to the management of Arik Air on their grievances and a meeting had been scheduled between the two parties for Wednesday, December 21, 2016. The unions however did not wait for the scheduled meeting or the outcome of the meeting, before embarking on such disruptive and strong-arm tactics against the airline.
The unions have demonstrated total disregard for the laws of Federal Republic of Nigeria by interfering in the operations of the airline and preventing airline staff from carrying on with their duties of handling the passengers booked for today’s flights.
The decision not to join the aviation unions is that of the generality of Arik Air and the management of the airline is not involved in any manner and neither can it influence such individual decisions in any form since Unionism is a free will and not a matter of compulsion,” Adebanji said in his statement.
He continued that: “Arik Air is appealing to all the Security Agencies, the Minister of Aviation, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, NAMA and all the other stakeholders in the industry to prevail on these aviation unions to allow for operations to commence immediately since this unjustifiable disruption by the unions has already inconvenienced the travel plans of thousands of passengers today.
Arik Air sincerely apologise to its esteemed passengers for any inconvenience experienced due to this unwarranted disruption and unlawful action by the unions”.
