Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), the operators of Murtala Muhammed Airport Two (MMA2) in Lagos, has said that the 37 workers that were sacked from its payroll last Friday were unproductive.
In a statement signed by its Head of Corporate Communications, Oluwatosin Onalaja, BASL insisted that the protest embarked upon by the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) was illegal and unwarranted.
According to the terminal operator, the protest by ATSSSAN members was in flagrant contravention of laid down principles of industrial relations and a total violation of the laws of Nigeria.
ATSSSAN’s members disregarded the court order: The statement emphasised that the union disregarded the court order issued by the National Industrial Court on October 31, 2022, which stopped them from picketing the terminal. The company, therefore, described their action as a recipe for anarchy.
The protest disrupted BASL’s activities: According to the statement, the union stormed its premises around 2:30a.m on Tuesday, shutting down its operations without the due notice to the management.
Onalaja alleged that ATSSSAN brought in members who were not employees of BASL to prevent its employees from working. The company insisted that its relationship was with its employee union members, not external members.
The picketing of the terminal operator by the unions had led to flight disruption earlier today. Some of the airlines that relocated their services to GAT include United Nigeria, Max Air, Azman Air, Ibom Air, Arik Air, ValueJet, and Green Africa Airways.
For instance, Ibom Air in a statement signed by its management said efforts were being made to resolve the situation and may continue its operations from the terminal until the issue is resolved.
BASL insists on its right to sack unproductive workers: Part of the statement by the company said it cannot be intimidated by anyone on how to manage its workforce. Part of the statement said:
- “The alleged cause of this industrial action is our decision to lay off some of our staff who we consider unproductive. It is our inherent right to manage our business in the most prudent manner and we should not be intimidated by external forces as is being done in this case.
- “The Unions are also claiming that we should apply the conditions of service which we signed in June 2021 retrospectively. Again, this is contrary to established rules of industrial relations and the laws of Nigeria.
- “We remain very law-abiding citizens and use this medium to apologise to all our clients and stakeholders for the unacceptable behaviour of the unions.”
ATSSSAN decried sack of members: The union had on Monday alleged that 34 of its members were laid off by BASL with “ordinary e-mails” sent to their different inboxes after they were first sent on a compulsory leave of absence for 10 days. Most of the affected workers dedicated at least a decade of their lives working for the company.
The union leaders insisted 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.
