Unionists in West Africa vow to tackle the threat to aviation jobs

November 4, 2011

Aviation unionists in West Africa have promised to take a stand against the threat to workers’ jobs posed by the privatisation of airports in the region.

Unionists from countries that are members of the agency dealing with aviation safety in Africa and Madagascar, L'Agence pour la Sécurité de la Navigation Aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar (ASECNA), made the pledge at an ITF seminar in Dakar, Senegal from 23-25 October.

With more and more states selling off the most profitable major airports in the region to the private sector, it was vital that unions took a united stand, they concluded. Privatisation, they agreed, presented a serious threat to the development of civil aviation – private owners frequently used fewer workers and resorted to subcontracting which more often than not led to job cuts and precarious work. The privatisation trend could also undermine the ASECNA, which currently helped forge international cooperation.

The unions’ resolve was outlined in the “Dakar declaration”; it committed them to take a number of steps including to: fight off attempts to privatise airports; work to preserve the jobs, rights and benefits of workers affected by privatisation and revive ASECNA’s union federation next year.