Air Peace Picketing: ₦2b Loss and Court Order Breach
Tuesday’s Air Peace picketing caused more than ₦2billion in losses and disrupted thousands of passengers. The airline’s Chief Operating Officer of Air Peace, Oluwatoyin Olajide also said the unions involved will bear passenger refund and compensation costs arising from the disruption. She made the disclosure while addressing journalists on the aftermath of the confrontation. She described the action as a serious breach of a subsisting Federal High Court judgment.
Olajide said the financial damage went beyond lost ticket revenue. She said the disruption also raised concerns among international partners and aircraft lessors about Nigeria’s aviation business environment. “Yesterday alone, we lost over two million from what happened,” she said. “That is outside of any kind of compensation for passengers, which is now a third-party compensation, because they will be responsible for that.” The airline’s position could therefore turn passenger refunds into another financial claim against those it holds responsible for the Air Peace picketing.
Court Injunction Puts Unions Under Pressure
The central issue in the Air Peace picketing dispute is a Federal High Court judgment delivered in Lagos on April 26, 2024. The judgment was delivered in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1344/2023. It followed a fundamental rights action brought by Air Peace employees against the Nigerian Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress and other respondents.
The certified judgment extract states that workers cannot be forced or coerced into joining a trade union against their wishes. More importantly, the court granted a perpetual injunction restraining the first and second respondents from harassing the applicants at their workplaces or elsewhere. The order also barred conduct likely to cause a breach of peace, harm the applicants or threaten their lives and property.
The court further directed the Nigeria Police Force to maintain peace and prevent interference with the workers’ freedom of movement into and from their offices. Olajide therefore described Tuesday’s action as a direct disregard of the subsisting judgment. “They have no business. That was completely unacceptable,” she said.
The legal exposure could now become a major consequence for the unions and individuals identified in the incident. Air Peace may seek enforcement of the existing injunction or pursue contempt proceedings if it establishes that the respondents breached the order. That possibility gives the Air Peace picketing dispute a far more serious legal dimension.
TSC Debt Dispute, Selective Picketing Raises Fresh Questions
The unions had cited two major reasons for the Air Peace picketing. These were alleged debts involving the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge and the absence of unionisation among airline employees. However, Olajide disputed the suggestion that Air Peace was uniquely responsible for the TSC issue.
She said the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Captain Chris Najomo, had stated that airlines were compliant with the authority’s directives.
“The DG of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority stated clearly that airlines have been compliant. Meetings were had, and there was an agreement between the NCAA and the airlines on a structured path of how they will address the alleged outstanding indebtedness. indebtedness.
“So, it’s not just like Air Peace alone. Air Peace is not the only one owing. Every other airline in this country owes. So why did you (unions) have to do a selective picketing when we even already have a judgement against them?”
She argued that the existing payment arrangement made the disruptive action unnecessary.
Unionisation Dispute Deepens the Crisis
The unionisation issue provides another major fault line in the Air Peace picketing dispute. Olajide said Air Peace employees had chosen not to join a union and that the airline had not prevented them from exercising their constitutional rights.
The airline also alleged that union members urged passengers not to fly Air Peace. Meanwhile, the airline said several employees were assaulted during the confrontation. Olajide highlighted a female worker who was allegedly left bleeding and bruised.
“Yesterday, some of our employees were physically assaulted while peacefully expressing their choice, including a female employee, someone’s daughter, someone’s mother.
She was left bleeding and bruised. We asked, how can workers’ rights be defended by violently attacking workers exercising their own constitutional rights?
The incident further also raises serious questions about airport security. How were individuals able to gain access to and disrupt operations within a highly controlled airport environment?”
Olajide said the airline has video evidence that could help identify those involved. She insisted that the issue was not opposition to organised labour but protection of workers, passengers and the rule of law.
The Air Peace picketing has therefore created consequences far beyond a single day of disrupted flights. Air Peace faces immediate operational losses, while the unions could face legal action if the court injunction is found to have been breached.
