ART condemns union members’ disruption of flights in Lagos, Abuja airports

THE Aviation Round Table (ART)  has condemned what it called the unwholesome and persistent disruption of flights in Lagos and Abuja airports respectively by members of the  aviation workers unions.

While recognizing  picketing  as a mode of protest during  industrial action  permissible by the law,  ART opines that a supposedly peaceful agitation by unions should not cross the boundary of tolerability  as stated in Section 43 of the Trade Unions Act. Cap.T14, LFN,2004.

According to ART; “What we have witnessed in the recent past is the disruptive picketing which barricades entrances to airport terminals, premises, wilful attack on airline counters and prevention of  non participating workers who wish to continue working. The ART considers these as threat to safety, security and corporate existence of  organisations within the aviation environment.

“The ART condemns unequivocally, the disruptive activities in Abuja and Lagos  based on alleged labour dispute with the Imo State government. ART considers as reckless these unwarranted actions which adversely affected an ailing  industry struggling to recover from Covid- 19 pandemic disruptions and the persistently high operational cost.”

The ART therefore, called on the Federal Government through the ministries of Labour and Aviation to address these disruptive activities of the labour unions decisively.

“We also encourage organisations in the industry to activate protective Crisis Management mechanism  to mitigate the consequences of these disruptive strike actions and seek appropriate  legal remedies  to redeem losses caused by them”, ART declared.