Passengers Stranded At Lagos Airport As Aviation Union Protests Illegal Sacking Of Workers

Passengers Stranded At Lagos Airport As Aviation Union Protests Illegal Sacking Of Workers

In order to stop the airlines from running their early morning flights, the union, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), reportedly took positions at the critical entrances leading to the terminal building as early as 6am.

Numerous passengers who intended to board the early-morning flights out of the private terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos State, are currently stranded because one of the aviation unions blocked the entrances leading to the terminal, in protest of the termination of 37 workers by the terminal management.

In order to stop the airlines from running their early morning flights, the union, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), reportedly took positions at the critical entrances leading to the terminal building as early as 6am.

As a result of the union's action, dozens of travellers who had arrived at the airport to catch morning flights to their destinations were stuck.

The private terminal blockage is because of the sacking of 37 workers, including union executives, by the terminal's operators, Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited.

The union had branded the dismissal of its members as witch-hunting and wilful intimidation, stating that rather than implementing the terms of service agreed upon with the union in 2021, the BASL administration had resorted to dismissing its members in its creation.

The union had earlier expressed anger over the manner Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) allegedly sacked 34 of its workforce.

They claimed that the workers were sacked last Friday, with “ordinary e-mails” sent to their different boxes with disregard to the rule of law after they were first sent on compulsory leave of absence for 10 days.

The Vice President and Deputy General Secretary of ATSSSAN, Emmanuel Jaja and Frances Akinjole, respectively told aviation journalists at the union secretariat at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, on Monday that most of those laid off had worked with the company for at least a decade.

Akinjole emphasised that the action was to witch-hunt its members working with the terminal operator, stressing that its branch chairman, branch secretary, branch treasurer and branch women leader were all affected by the sack.

He said the action of the management contravened Section 20 of the Labour Act on engagement and disengagement of staff by any company in the country, maintaining that the union would kick severely against the act of the management.

According to Akinjole, the terminal operator has continued to threaten its employees since it "grudgingly" recognised that its employees may join unions.

He said that the union had signed the staff Conditions of Service (CoS) for its members in Bi-Courtney on June 16, 2021, following a three-year-long negotiation with management.

He further stated that following the signing of the CoS agreement, a female union member quit her appointment with the BASL because she could no longer tolerate the intimidation, and the presentation of a cheque for her terminal benefits, which she rejected, became an issue.

He explained that BASL management had used historical (year by year) computation to calculate her exit pay instead of the expected last salary, lamenting that the rejected cheque denied the beneficiary to the tune of about N3,000,000.00.

Also speaking, Jaja said most of those sacked by the company had been in service of BASL before the coming of unions into the company in 2018.

Jaja insisted that their sack did not follow the rule of law, stressing that BASL had the penchant for disregarding the law of the land.