Labour to picket airlines in Nigeria over non-unionisation policy

The National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, has vowed to picket the offices of airlines across the country for disallowing their staff from joining trade unions.

Mr Ben Nnabue, the national president of NUATE, disclosed this on Monday during the national campaign for the unionisation of private domestic airlines in Nigeria in Lagos.

Nnabue told the workers that the union had received the backing of the International Transport Workers Federation, ITF, based in London, on unionisation.

According to him, it is against labour law for some airlines to base employment conditions upon not joining a trade union.

He said that those who threatened to sack their workers if they joined unions were acting contrary to Nigerian laws.

Nnabue recalled that participants at the last global labour unions conference held in Singapore observed that a lot of organisations were not unionised.

He said that this was what informed the mandate to ensure that slave labour was eliminated on the African continent.

“In Nigeria, we have come to terms with the reality that the majority of our domestic airlines do not want their workers to join unions.

“While some have allowed their staff to unionise, other airlines, at the point of entrance, warn their staff against joining any trade union of their choice.

“We have been on this for the past five years. We have reported to the ministers of Labour and Aviation,” he said.