The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) on Wednesday threatened to withdraw the services of pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers across all airlines if those recently sacked by Air Peace and Bristow Helicopters were not called back.
To that effect, the union has given the concerned airlines two weeks to recall the sacked staff.
Speaking at a news conference in Lagos, the national president of NAAPE, Mr Abednego Galadima described the recent sack of pilots and engineers by Air Peace and Bristow Helicopters as a ‘flagrant disregard of extant labour and trade union laws of the workplace under the pretense of COVID-19 pandemic.’
READ ALSO: Coronavirus: Air Peace Sacks 70 Pilots, Cuts Salaries
He stressed that if their call was not heeded in two weeks, they would be left with no other option but to withdraw the services of pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers across all airlines adding that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) should ground their operations as safety would no longer be guaranteed.
Galadima said NAAPE members were forced to sign new terms of conditions of employment or be fired and their salaries cut without recourse to the statues governing industrial relations in the country.
READ ALSO: Why We Suspended Pilots, Engineers’ Condition Of Service – Bristow Helicopter Mgt
He noted: “Airline operators have continued to run their business without negotiated conditions of service which is a requirement of our labour and trade union laws and also in keeping with international best practices.
“Without negotiated conditions of service, our members have become exposed to the whims and caprices of the employers in the industry enthroning a reign of arbitrariness and impunity in the conduct of employee relations within the industry.”
The union leader posited that such disposition of the airline operators must be nipped in the bud before it becomes a greater threat to the survival of the industry.
He further noted that such disposition was capable of unsettling pilots and engineers thereby leading to human errors in operations.
Galadima therefore called on all relevant arms and agencies of government to immediately call Nigerian airline operators to order and ensure they revert salaries to pre COVID-19 levels.
