The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, is set to brief President Bola Tinubu on the resolution reached between aviation sector unions and the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) over the lingering dispute surrounding the Ticket Sales Charge (TSC).
The development followed an emergency meeting convened by Keyamo on Thursday with representatives of the feuding parties, days after the unions suspended their industrial action that disrupted flight operations at major airports across the country.
The meeting, which lasted several hours in Abuja, produced a five-point resolution aimed at addressing the unions’ grievances over airlines’ outstanding TSC payments, workers’ freedom to join trade unions and the need to prevent further disruption to aviation operations.
Keyamo, who was out of the country, joined the meeting virtually via Zoom and presided over the deliberations.
The minister also directed the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mahmud Kambari, to prepare two separate communications. One is a comprehensive brief for President Tinubu detailing the dispute, deliberations and resolutions reached, while the other is a public statement outlining the outcome of the meeting.
According to the statement issued by the ministry after the meeting, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and other aviation agencies will obtain payment schedules from airlines with outstanding obligations.
The payments will be spread over a reasonable period, taking into account the airlines’ operating costs and prevailing economic realities.
The ministry further disclosed that Directors of Finance and Accounts across the aviation agencies would meet individually with the affected airlines within one week to agree on realistic repayment plans.
On the contentious issue of unionisation, Keyamo affirmed the right of aviation workers to decide whether or not to belong to a trade union.
The ministry said the NCAA had consequently been directed to ensure that unions had direct access to workers across all airlines for the purpose of distributing union membership forms.
Under the resolution, workers, rather than airline management, would independently decide whether they wished to unionise.
The ministry warned that airlines that prevented unions from having direct access to workers would face sanctions from the NCAA.
The parties also agreed to reconvene after one month to assess the implementation of the resolutions and review the state of the dispute.
The ministry described the five resolutions as the collective decisions of all parties at the meeting.
The resolutions include an agreement for the NCAA and other heads of aviation agencies to obtain payment schedules from airlines and spread the outstanding obligations over a reasonable timeframe, taking into account airlines’ operating costs and current economic realities.
The Directors of Finance and Accounts in the aviation agencies are also expected to meet individual airlines and agree on realistic repayment plans within one week.
On workers’ union rights, the ministry said the minister recognised the right of workers to choose whether or not to belong to unions and to make the decision independently of airline management.
The NCAA was therefore directed to immediately ensure that unions could directly interface with workers across all airlines to distribute membership forms.
Any airline that prevents such direct interaction would be sanctioned by the NCAA, according to the resolution.
The unions had embarked on industrial action on Tuesday over several grievances, including alleged failure by some airlines to remit the five per cent TSC to the NCAA and alleged interference with workers’ efforts to unionise.
The action particularly affected Air Peace, disrupting flight operations and leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at airports.
Following interventions by the Federal Government and other stakeholders, however, the unions suspended the industrial action and agreed to further dialogue.
At Thursday’s meeting, Keyamo assured stakeholders that the government remained committed to resolving the issues without compromising the safety, efficiency and viability of the aviation industry.
He also reiterated the Tinubu administration’s commitment to maintaining a “safe, efficient, peaceful and sustainable aviation industry.”
The meeting had earlier been scheduled by the aviation authority, but members of the AON allegedly failed to attend.
The Managing Director of Aero Contractors said he would have attended the meeting if the invitation had been addressed directly to him in his capacity as an airline operator, explaining that he might not necessarily share the position of the AON.
The airline boss later confirmed his position, urging the NCAA to address individual airlines directly whenever important meetings are convened.
He said airlines should not be invited through the AON because an individual operator could have a different position from the association.
Following the concerns raised, Keyamo immediately agreed that invitations should be addressed to individual airlines going forward.
