L:R: Comrade Abednego Galadinma, President NAAPE, Nat. VP ATSSSAN, Comrade Emmanuel Jaja, Rep. Minister, Mrs. Nkechi Nwokocha, Dir. Human Resources Mgt, FMA, President, ANAP, comrade Kabir Gusau, comrade Nnabue Ben President, NUATE and Comrade Hector Nnadi, Forum Secretary, JATUF
Aviation unions across the airports in the country have converged on Lagos to strategize on how best to tailor their demands to the Federal Government to avoid industrial action.
The conference put together by the ministry of aviation is aimed at bridging the communication gap between it and the unions and to educate the leadership to see strikes as the last resort to resolving any labour issues.
The theme of the conference is ‘Re-inventing Trade Unionism for Sustainable Growth and development in the Nigerian Aviation Sector’.
Declaring the conference open, the minister of aviation senator Hadi Sirika said, Government is not unaware of current challenges in the provision and improvement of workers’ welfare and critical infrastructure in the Nigerian Aviation industry.
He emphasized that, rather than embark on strikes, there should be dialogue between the managements and the unions to resolving industrial matters in the sector.
According to him, there should be a paradigm shift from the unions on how they deal with the government, insisting that the sector would only witness growth when all parties work in unison.
The minister represented by the Director, Human Resource Management in the ministry, Mrs. Ikechi Nwokocha stated that, Government regrets the recent industrial action of the Unions which, by all intents and purposes should not have been contemplated in the first place.
“Despite this, permit me to reemphasize the pertinence of dialogue and solution-orientef approaches to resolving all industrial relations matters”.
Forum Secretary, Joint Aviation Trade Unions’ Form, JATUF, Comrade Hector Nnadi, said, the present administration had been fair to the rank and file of the unions and appealed to them to collaborate with government to build the sector to an enviable heights.
“That we take advantage of this platform which the Ministry in partnership with the leadership of JATUF has provided to acquaint ourselves of what the challenges are but how do we move forward and do we achieve results”.
Leadership of the different unions in their goodwill messages emphasized that proper leadership and packaging by the unions would ensure the protection of its members.
They stressed collaboration with government and unity of the unions.
“The focus will be strategic alliance, strategic partnership. Our employers need this training so that when we are dealing with them, they will know we are partnering with them”.
Highlights of the opening ceremony of the 2023 Strategic Aviation Unions’ Leadership Conference was the presentation of awards to the minister of aviation, heads of aviation agencies and deserving members of the unions for their resilience in the pursuit of better welfare for members.