By Louis Ibah
It was a chaotic scene yesterday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport terminal two (MMA2) as scores of passengers besieged Dana Air counters seeking refund of their airfares as the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) picketed Dana Air leading to the closure of the operations at the airline in the early hours of the morning.
As early as 6am yesterday, members of NAAPE who chanted solidarity songs and displayed placards with messages like “No condition of service for staff at Dana Air”; “Dana Indian must obey Nigerian laws”; and “Dana Air, second slavery in Nigeria,” among others, barricaded the airline’s counters at the MMA2 thereby stopping the carrier’s 06.40am, 07.02am and 07.20am flights to Abuja, Port Harcourt and Owerri respectively. The workers were protesting the casualisation of workers and the ban on unionism by Dana Air, which makes it illegal for pilots and aeronautical engineers to be members of NAAPE.
Spokesman for the airline, Mr. Kingsley Ezenwa, however, described the action of the protesting union as illegal. “We wish to apologise to our guests for the slight delays experienced today, November 21, 2017, as result of the illegal disruption of our flight operations by NAAPE,” said Ezenwa.
“We wish to also state clearly that reason given by the union for the illegal action this morning is entirely false, baseless and malicious as there is no such thing as ‘casualisation’ of staff at Dana Air. We also cannot foist unionism on our staff. We understand what freedom of association means, and we expect the unions to know better. The activities of these unions have only led airlines to the precipice and it is appalling what they seek to achieve by illegally disrupting our flights,” he added.
However, NAAPE’s General Secretary, Mr. Abba Ocheme, had in a speech attributed the union’s action to the refusal of the management of Dana Air to allow the pilots and engineers in its employ unionise. He also alleged the pilots and engineers were not given condition of service, saying, “the airline pays them what it deems fit. This is unacceptable to NAAPE. What the airline is practising is slavery,” he said.
The picketing by the union had created a long queue for the other airlines as passengers were seen struggling to buy their tickets to get to their destinations.
However, Dana Air passengers who had earlier bought tickets and reported early for the flights were refunded their fares by the airline and allowed to pay and board other airlines.
But policemen from the Airport Police command were seen at the MMA2 terminal protecting both the protesting union and the airline staff from angry passengers.