Pandemonium yesterday was averted at the premises of Caverton Helicopters as management of the airline in a bid to dislodge unionists who were fighting for reinstatement of 150 staff workers sacked by the airline management were stopped by the of the Rapid Response Squad.
National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) planned picketing of Caverton Helicopter early yesterday but hit a setback as the airline called in men of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) to scuttle the process.
The unions in the early hours trooped out to protest at the entrance of Caverton with vehicles and had padlocked the gate to the airline office before the arrival of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS).
The management of the airline, suspecting the planned picketing called in the RRS, who cut the padlock and moved out the vehicles used by the unions to block the company’s entrance.
However the union has revealed that it was unwavering in fighting for the rights of its members.
The General Secretary of NUATE, declared ,”We have shut down Caverton Helicopters but management called in men of the Rapid Response Squad who came in to try and dislodge us, cutting the key to our padlock on the gate and removing our vehicular barricade to allow some Shell vehicles in.”
“We are undaunted by this, and our resolve is to ensure our workers do not continue to suffer this way and we are calling operations all and sundry especially the media to come and see what is happening at Caverton.”
The Caverton Management have been negotiating to resolve industrial crisis for long months before the airline ‘unilaterally’ sacked 150 non technical workers without benefits, most serving the airline over 10 years.
Mr Olayinka Abioye, Addressing the protesters, said, ‘the unions decided to shut down the airline’s NUATE in Lagos, Warri and Port Harcourt to protect the rights of workers’’
Abioye flayed the decision of Caverton’s management to declare 150 workers redundant in view of the current economic situation in the country.
According to him, the affected workers were paid only a month salary in lieu of notice despite some of them having spent up to 13 years in the airline’s service.
He alleged that some of the workers were outsourced to another company, Blue bay, and their salaries were slashed without any negotiation with labour.
“We are shocked that management chose this ignoble path of ambushing the union by declaring a whopping 150 members of staff redundant, while we were still discussing and negotiating a new salary structure and condition of service .we believe that this indecorous position is ultra vires, null and void and of no effect. Our principle of industrial relations is not to use “carrot and stick” tactics in negotiation and go ahead and shoot the union at the back’’
“We want to inform the management of Caverton Helicopters that unless they reverse themselves by concluding the ongoing negotiation that was aborted, we may not guarantee industrial peace in their locations across Africa,” he said.
Abioye emphasised that the dream of the airline’s founder, Chief Remi Makanjuola, was to empower Nigerians, provide work for them and develop the country as a whole.
He alleged that since the company was handed over to Makanjuola’s son, it had been grossly mismanaged and might be run aground if care was not taken.
Abioye called on the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to carry out a financial audit on Caverton Helicopters to know their current financial status.
Also speaking, the General Secretary, Mr Frances Akinjole, ATSSSAN, urged aviation companies and airlines to stop treating Nigerian workers as slaves.
Akinjole said Caverton failed to follow the laid down procedure for declaring workers redundant before embarking on the exercise, stressing that the move would be resisted by labour. But letter dated Oct.28 and signed by the airline’s Industrial Relation Manager.
Mr Segun Alebiosu, said the move was in accordance with Section 20 of the Nigeria Labour Act.
Daily Times reported this week that aviation unions and management of Caverton were heading for a shutdown, following the sack of 150 workers by the airline.
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