Chinelo Obogo
The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) has threatened to withdraw the services of pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers from all airlines if those recently sacked by Air Peace and Bristow Helicopters are not recalled.
At a news conference Wednesday in Lagos, the President of NAAPE, Mr. Abednego Galadima, said the recent sack of pilots and engineers by Air Peace and Bristow Helicopters, under the pretence of COVID-19 pandemic, is a ‘flagrant disregard of extant labour and trade union laws of the workplace .’
The NAAPE president stated that if the call is not heeded in two weeks, they would be left with no option than 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.
Galadinma said its members were made to sign new terms of conditions of employment under duress or be fired and their salaries cut without recourse to the statues governing industrial relations in the country.
“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.”
He said that this must be nipped in the bud before it becomes a greater threat to the survival of the industry, adding that it is capable of unsettling the pilots and engineers which could lead to human errors in operations.
The NAAPE president called on all concerned arms of government and agencies to immediately call Nigerian airline operators to order and ensure they revert salaries to pre COVID-19 levels.
He discountenanced Bristow’s statement which indicated that the termination of their 100 pilots and engineers would affect both Nigerians and expatriates, stating that it was just a ploy to get rid of Nigerians.
“To say the 100 pilots and engineers are not only our members is unsubstantiated and we do not know this because the management did not engage us.
“Operators, especially Bristow Helicopters, have rendered our members redundant despite assurances by government of support for their businesses in return for operators not laying off staff.
“These operators are already running on lean manpower with disproportionate number being expatriates yet, without regards to our expatriates and local content laws and executive order (5) they gave gone ahead to lay off staff under the guise of COVID-19 pandemic.
“They cannot be using COVID-19 as an excuse because the ceasation of flight operations did not affect essential services like the oil and gas and Bristow and Caverton were operating during the lockdown.”