May Day: Passengers Stranded As NLC Intensify Strike In Imo

Many passengers were stranded at the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport in Owerri following the strike embarked upon by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in Imo State.

New Telegraph had earlier reported that the National Working Committee (NWC) on Monday called for the strike because of the faceoff between the Imo State Government and the NLC.

The union had levied against the Government an allegation of assaulting some of its members during the May Day rally in Owerri.

Reacting to the alleged assault, the NLC stopped airlines from taking off and landing at the airport after labour instructed workers in the aviation sector at the airport to down tools.

It was reported that 100 airline passengers were not aware of the development and are caught in this trap.

At the Sam Mbakwe Airport and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, where the labour union had also declared a “No flight to Owerri action,” flights to and fro Imo State have been seriously disrupted forcing passengers coming to the state to make alternative arrangements.

Emmanuel Ugboaja, NLC Secretary General, had, in a letter, stated that labour would embark on a comprehensive industrial action against the state government with effect from Wednesday, May 3, 2023.

The communiqué read in part, “It was resolved that we embark on a comprehensive industrial action against the State Government beginning from Wednesday the 3rd day of May 2023.

Consequently, as part of our effort to enforce compliance, you are kindly requested to work with the TUC and other affiliates especially those in the Aviation sector to ensure that no flight leaves the Lagos Airport to Owerri, Imo state starting from 12 midnight today.

“The government of Imo State has grossly violated the rules of engagement among the social partners in industrial relations in the country by using thugs to violently disrupt this year’s May Day in Imo State, that properties were vandalised and looted by the invading thugs of the government and that some workers sustained various degrees of injuries as a result of that attack.”

Among the demands, the union said the state government must sign the agreement reached between it and workers in the month of March 2023.