27th March, 2013
Aero Contractors, Nigeria’s second largest airline, remained grounded on Wednesday, two weeks after a labour crisis paralysed its activities nationwide, and a day after a meeting between the Ministry of Labour, the management of Aero and striking workers ended in a deadlock.
Protests continued at the headquarters of the troubled airline early on Wednesday, with angry workers vowing that planes belonging to the 53-year old airline will remain grounded until the crisis is resolved.
At a meeting on Tuesday in Lagos, southwest Nigeria, officials at the Ministry of Labour advised Aero and workers to resolve the issue peacefully.
“Obara Ibru, the Managing Director, was at the meeting yesterday,” a source who was also at the meeting said.
“He said he did not have the mandate to sign any agreement with the workers. He has gone to AMCON to seek that mandate.”
Aero Contractors was taken over by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, last year, with the body now owning 60 percent of the airline.
The takeover means that AMCON has the final say on major decisions and appointment, and could even liquidate the airline if the current crisis persists.
The current labour crisis started on 13 March when workers downed tools over poor conditions of service and a plan by management to outsource jobs.
Aero then rushed to the National Industrial Court and obtained an injunction restraining workers from going on strike.
The workers ignored the injunction and Aero reacted by dismissing at least 655 of them the same day and has even go ahead to recruit new staff.
Since then, protests have greeted the airline on daily basis and its planes have remained at aircraft stand.
Aero is estimated to have lost hundreds of millions of naira to the current crisis.
With recent revelations that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, may have to recertified the airline fully and extensively, Aero troubles may continue to metastasise.
—Simon Ateba