The National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, has declared its intention to stage pickets at airline offices nationwide due to their prohibition of staff from joining trade unions.
During a national campaign advocating for the unionization of private domestic airlines in Nigeria, Mr. Ben Nnabue, the national president of NUATE, made this announcement in Lagos on Monday.
Nnabue informed the workers about the support received from the International Transport Workers Federation, ITF, based in London, regarding unionization efforts.
He emphasized that it goes against labor regulations for certain airlines to make employment terms conditional on not being part of a trade union.
Those who threaten to dismiss their employees for unionizing are contravening Nigerian laws, he added.
Recalling discussions at the recent global labor unions conference in Singapore, Nnabue highlighted the lack of unionization in many organizations and the need to eradicate exploitative labor practices in Africa.
“In Nigeria, we have acknowledged that the majority of our domestic airlines oppose union membership for their workers,” Nnabue stated. He pointed out that while some airlines permit unionization, others explicitly discourage their employees from joining any trade union.
“We have been persistently addressing this issue for the past five years and have reported it to the Ministers of Labor and Aviation,” he mentioned.