Don’t drag unions into TSC remittance fight - expert
Aviation analyst James Odaudu has waded into the Ticket Sales Charge controversy with a clear warning: regulators, not labour unions, should be the ones chasing unpaid government revenues.
Odaudu calls for accountability are valid, airlines that collect TSC from passengers and fail to pass it on must be investigated and sanctioned. But he drew a firm line between fiscal enforcement and industrial action.
“Trade unions exist to protect workers on wages, conditions, and job security,” he said. “Enforcing statutory remittances is a regulatory function. It belongs to agencies, tax authorities, or the courts, not a union picket line.”
He dismissed the notion that non-remittance automatically justifies union-led disruption. There is a clear difference, he argued, between a union acting because an employer harms its members, and a union shutting down operations because an airline owes the government money.
“The first is industrial relations. The second is regulatory enforcement—and that is not a union’s job,” he said.
Odaudu acknowledged that strikes are lawful in democracies but said the right is not limitless, particularly in aviation. He pointed to mature jurisdictions like the UK, France, and the US, where industrial action is bound by notice periods, conciliation, and, in safety-critical sectors, emergency restrictions.
“Airports aren’t just workplaces. They’re part of national security infrastructure. A shutdown affects more than just the employer and worker,” he noted.
He also cautioned against framing the debate as “workers versus passengers.” The real question, he said, is how to balance workers’ rights, passenger safety, and service continuity.
Still, Odaudu sided with labour on one point: any government move to curb strikes must not be one-sided. If workers face penalties and deadlines, employers must also be bound to resolve grievances in good time.
“If you restrict industrial action, you cannot allow employers to ignore disputes indefinitely while workers bear the brunt,” he said.