Back-Catering: NLC Threatens Action Against Foreign Airlines

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has alleged that some foreign airlines engage in back-catering, a situation where they bring in food from their countries instead of from Nigeria.

This claim was made by the Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter, Mrs Funmi Sessi in Lagos. She pointed out that Egypt Air, Ethiopian Airlines and Rwanda Air were the culpable operators involved in the alleged act.

Mrs Sessi said that preventing local suppliers from providing catering services for the airlines had reduced employment opportunities for the Nigerian populace.

“As part of building the economy and trying to boost the aviation sector following the COVID-19 pandemic, labour through NLC Lagos has discovered that foreign airlines are now in the habit of back-catering,” she said.

The NLC chairman said that some of the companies certified by the federal government to provide catering services had already retrenched some of their workers and lost percentages of their turnovers.

She listed the companies to include Newrest ASL Nigeria; Pan African Catering Services; Servair Nigeria, and LSG Sky Chefs.

“Servair Nigeria has over 200 workers; Newrest ASL over 600 workers, both in Lagos and Abuja; Servair Nigeria has already retrenched about 80 workers since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Also, Newrest ASL has retrenched 122 workers, because these airlines are not patronising them.

“Newrest ASL has lost 58 per cent of its turnover, while Servair Nigeria lost 66 per cent,” the labour union leader said.

She then read out that labour would be forced to take decisive action if the practice does not stop.

She urged stakeholders in the aviation sector, including the government, to intervene and urgently address the issue.

“Other countries do not allow this practice, so why should ours be different; this means there will be job losses for the workers,” she said.