The three aviation unions that threatened to shut the Nigerian airspace starting from Monday over the failure of the authorities to pay them higher wages have suspended their planned strike.
Members of the unions, all staffers of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), decided to suspend the planned strike after a meeting between their leaders and the NAMA management, NAMA spokesman Supo Atobatele said in a statement issued after the meeting in the economic capital city of Lagos over the weekend.
“The meeting is however expected to continue on Monday to further deliberate on issues at stake after the parties agreed that dialogue remains the best way of resolving industrial crisis,’’ he said.
The Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) had served a notice of the impending shutdown last Thursday.
The unions had issued a 14-day ultimatum, due to expire on Monday, to NAMA on the pay issue.