NAMA Staff Threaten Indefinite Strike Over Pay Raise Issue

Unions in Nigeria's aviation sector are threatening to
embark on an indefinite strike beginning on March
10 following the failure of the management of the
Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to
implement a pay rise agreement.
The threat is contained in a letter to the Managing
Director of NAMA, Mr. Nnamdi Udoh, dated February
17. The unions, under the aegis of National Union of
Air Transport Employees (NUATE), the Air Transport
Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria
(ATSSSAN), and the Amalgamated Union of Public
Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational
Employees (AUPCRE), declared they would embark
on the strike unless the management fully and
immediately implements the agreement.
If they make good their threat, the country's airspace
could experience an unprecedented shutdown
affecting the operations of both local and foreign
airlines.
NAMA's workers are mostly air traffic controllers,
navigation tools maintenance engineers and service
providers for the airlines.
The letter to Mr. Udoh was jointly signed by NUATE
General Secretary, Abdulkareem Motajo; General
Secretary of ATSSSAN, Captain N. Tarnongu; and
AUPCRE Secretary, Isidore Opara.
Notifying the NAMA boss of their plans, they asked
him to include the payment of 12 months arrears on
the staff conditions of service, which they claim was
stopped since March, 2013.
Serving the strike notice, the unions recalled that at
a meeting held at the instance of the Minister of
Labour and Productivity last November, it was
resolved that a stakeholders follow-up meeting would
be reconvened under the chairmanship of the
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation and
the resolutions of the meetings of NAMA
management and the unions be presented for
consideration.
"There was unanimous agreement to the effect that
the agreement as contained in the communiqué and
the extract of the meetings between the
management of NAMA and the unions held on
August 7, 2013 be adopted and consequently ratified
to pave way for the subsequent adjustment of the
consolidated salary structure of NAMA," the letter
warned.

Sent From David Aniemeka