Chidi Samuel
The three aviation unions whose industrial action early Tuesday lead to the the grounding of all Arik Air operations have called off their strike action, paving way for the embattled Air Line to resume operations. The decision of the unions to call off the strike followed the intervention of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
In a a communique signed by the leadership of the unions, Arik Air management and a representative of the NCAA, the unions agreed to call off the strike after exhaustive deliberations with the management of Arik and the NCAA while Arik agreed to pay the outstanding October salaries on or before Friday, while that of November would be paid on or before the last day of the year.
The communique said,“The unions are to submit the acknowledged copies of the letters forwarding membership forms of their prospective members to the NCAA and NCAA shall forward same to the management of Arik Air to do the needful,” it read.
“A committee to review the circumstances of all laid-off employees, made up of one member from each union and Arik Air, was constituted, to be inaugurated on January 10, 2017.
“The Hawker fleet employees are exempted from the review.”
Arik was expected to resume operations forthwith upon signing the communiqué, and that no individual should be victimised as a consequence of the industrial action, the communique stated.
