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The union, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), reportedly took positions at the key doors leading to the terminal building as early as 6am in order to prevent the airlines from operating their early morning flights.
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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, many 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.
The union, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), reportedly took positions at the key doors leading to the terminal building as early as 6am in order to prevent the airlines from operating their early morning flights.
Dozens of passengers who had arrived at the airport to catch morning flights to their destinations were stuck as a result of the union’s action.
The closure of the private terminal is the result of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, which runs the facility, firing 37 employees, including union executives.
The union said that the BASL administration had turned to removing its members in order to enforce the terms of service that had been agreed upon with the union in 2021, branding this as witch-hunting and willful intimidation.
The union has previously expressed its displeasure over the suspected firing of 34 employees of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL).
They asserted that the employees were fired last Friday after being initially sent on a 10-day, legally required leave of absence, using “regular e-mails” delivered to their various boxes without regard for the law.
At the union secretariat at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, on Monday, aviation journalists were informed by ATSSSAN vice president Emmanuel Jaja and deputy general secretary Frances Akinjole that the majority of individuals laid off had been employed by the firm for at least ten years.
Akinjole emphasized that the dismissal of the branch chairman, branch secretary, branch treasurer, and branch women leader was part of a witch hunt against the branch’s employees who worked with the terminal operator.
He claimed the union would take harsh action against the management’s behavior since it violated Section 20 of the Labour Act, which governs the hiring and firing of employees by all businesses operating in the nation.
Akinjole claims that the terminal operator has persisted in threatening its staff members despite “grudgingly” acknowledging that they might organize a union.
According to him, after three years of negotiations with management, the union signed the staff Conditions of Service (CoS) for its members in Bi-Courtney on June 16, 2021.
He added that a female union member departed her position with the BASL after the CoS agreement was signed because she could no longer put up with the intimidation, and that the presentation of a check for her terminal benefits, which she rejected, became a problem.
He lamented that the rejected check had deprived the beneficiary to the tune of nearly N3,000,000.00 and stated that BASL management had employed historical (year by year) computation to determine her leave compensation in place of the anticipated last salary.
Speaking as well, Jaja noted that the majority of employees fired by the business had worked for BASL before to the arrival of unions in 2018.
Jaja emphasized that BASL has a history of disobeying the law when she claimed that their bag did not adhere to the law.
