Air travel was disrupted across West and Central Africa on Friday as air traffic control strikes kept flights grounded. International travelers en route to the United States and Europe were unable to board their scheduled flights as a result.
Employees of the Agency for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) decided to protest in response to a dispute over working conditions and pay, thereby disregarding court rulings and government bans prohibiting them from doing so. Flights across the 18 countries in which the air traffic regulator operates remained grounded because of the strike.
Ceubah Guelpina, ASECNA’s head of human resources, made the following statement in response to the ASECNA staff’s actions: “In spite of the prohibition of the strike by all the courts … the Union of Air Traffic Controllers’ Unions (USYCAA) has launched a wildcat strike. We have already exhausted both administrative and institutional remedies in the management of this crisis, but we have in front of us trade unionists who are stubborn to do whatever they want.”
In response to the ongoing action, ASECNA has developed a contingency plan allowing flights to be rerouted to alternative airports so as to avoid those airports suffering from staff shortages.