Barely 72 hours after talks between the management of Dana Air and the leadership of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) collapsed due to disagreement over unionization, the latter has perfected plans to ground the operations of the airline tomorrow, Tuesday.

SaharaReporters gathered that the strike will begin nationwide at 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

A source close to the union informed our correspondent that NAAPE leadership has notified all its members in aviation agencies and other airlines of its plans to picket the airline on Tuesday.

The source said the union is taking the move following the reluctance of Dana Air to allow its engineers and pilots to join the union despite deducting the check-off dues from their monthly salaries.

A document obtained by our correspondent indicated that the check-off dues of the technical personnel in the airline from January to September 2017 had grown to N999,000.

No fewer than 15 pilots and engineers from the airline had filed the NAAPE membership forms and submitted them to the management by the union between March and June 2017.

It would be recalled that during a meeting convened by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) last Friday to discuss the issue of unionization in Dana Air, the two parties failed to find common ground.

Before the weekend meeting, NCAA had mediated previous meetings with the two organizations. In one meeting, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the duo, only for Dana Air to renege on the agreement reached with the union and the industry regulator.

A source close to the meeting told our correspondent that Dana Air was represented by its Group Human Resources Manager, Mr. Anand A.B., and the Secretary of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Mr. Ewos Iroro. Mr. Ocheme Aba, the General Secretary, along with Mr. Charles Erikefe, Mr. Abednego Galadima, Mr. Femi Agbaje, Assistant General Secretary, and Comrade Umoh Ofonime, Deputy General Secretary, represented NAAPE at the meeting.

NCAA, which convened the meeting, was represented by Mr. Meduoye Anthony, Manager Corporate and Planning as the Chairman, Mr. Ayalsa Anthony, General Manager, Human Resources, Mr. Yakmap Julius, Assistant General Manager, Manpower Development and Training, and Mr. Ben Azeh as the Secretary at the meeting.

At the last meeting, it was gathered that Dana Air refused to abide by the earlier agreement, which led NCAA to remove itself from further mediation between the two parties.

In a related development, our correspondent further gathered that apart from Dana Air, the union may also picket operations of Med-View Airline and Air Peace before the end of the year over the same issue.

http://saharareporters.com/2017/11/20/nigerian-airplane-pilots-engineers-ground-dana-air-operations-tuesday-over-anti-union