ATSSSAN Executives Discuss Challenges Of Labour In A Depressed Economy

Members of the  Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) have assembled at the National Executive Council Meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State to discuss the “Challenges of Labour Unions in a Depressing Economy: Nigeria Aviation Sector in View” which is the theme of the meeting.

National President of ATSSSAN, Comrade Barr. Ahmadu D. Ilitrus said in his welcome address that “the journey since the Federal government’s declaration that covid-19 pandemic was over in Nigeria in 2022 has been laced with so much anxiety, expectations and yet a glaring reality that all is not well with our country and the labour movement in Nigeria. We recall the tortuous campaign for a new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers in view of the then excruciating living conditions under the Buhari administration and the not too good outcome of the exercise, the ongoing struggle by labour for a new minimum wage… this periodic agitation is a pointer to the deficit/absence of a sustainable approach to the management of the wage needs of the Nigerian worker.

The theme of this meeting ” *Challenges of Labour Unions in a Depressing Economy: Nigeria Aviation Sector in View* was carefully chosen considering the current precarious state of the Nigerian worker, especially the aviation worker whose future seems uncertain as a result of the dwindling fortune of the aviation industry  as a result of a wide range of challenges.

Our guest speaker will dwell on some of the issues in the course of interaction today. Today  PMS sales from ₦580 to over ₦700 per litre and the cost of transportation and food items and other necessaries  have doubled or tripled with wages remaining stagnant, yet the Nigerian worker is expected to report at work daily and contribute his/her very best to the system (is this possible!).

In spite of the myriad of challenges faced by our members (including the vexatious denial of workers’ constitutional right to freely join union of their choice), as a Union, we must rationalize our issues and work collaboratively with our employers to find workable solutions that will foster growth and harmonious relationship at the work place.”