A state officer of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Employees (AUPCTRE), Comrade Maureen Kenneth Amadi, has commended aviation workers for protesting against planned ban of unionism by Federal Government at the nation’s Airports.
Amadi, who partook in the protest march recently at the Port Harcourt International Airport, said the workers will resist the move.
She urged airport workers to be on guard against any plan by government to deny them the right to associate with each other.
It would be recalled that aviation workers at the Port Harcourt International Airport recently protested against plans by the Federal Government to ban unionisation in the aviation industry.
The protesters, who were drawn from different unions in the industry, matched round the airport with placards.
Some of the placards read: “Minister of Aviation, stop playing games with workers”, “Our right to protest is covered under ILO convention”, and “Banning of workers from unionising is evil”.
Some of the workers accused the Minister of of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, of working hard to cage unionisation in the industry.
They alleged that the minister has sent a bill to the National Assembly with a clause to ban workers in the industry from belonging to labour unions.
They noted that the proposed law did not only breach their fundamental rights, but was also against international labour organisation convention.
Speaking with newsmen, Chairman of Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association, Comrade Rasaq Animasaun, said the workers will resist every move by the federal government to cage them at the airport.
Animasaun said the workers will not allow the aviation industry to be like other sectors that are inefficient because of wrong government policies.
He said workers at the industry also have the right like their counterparts across the nation to belong to unions.
Also speaking, Chairman of Nigeria Association of Aviation professionals, comrade Akangha Emmanuel, urged the National Assembly to reject the bill.
He also urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to assent to the bill, if it is passed by the National Assembly, stressing that the situation will violate the right of workers in the industry to freely associate for their common good.
On his part, Chairman, National Union of Air Transport Employees, Federal Airport Authority (FAAN), Port Harcourt, Comrade Felix Ohwoefe, said the proposed bill has breached the fundamental rights of workers to form or belong to unions.
He said the protest was the first step in the series of actions that will be taken by the workers, stressing that more actions will be taken as the days go by, to ensure that the bill does not see the light of the day.
Comrade Maureen Kenneth Amadi said the union will use all legal means to resist any attempt to cage the rights of workers in the industry .

By: John Bibor