…Orange Group, Consolidated Holdings agree with Lahour on unionisation
By Bimbola Oyesola and Louis Ibah
Security was tight around the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos yesterday, following the threat by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and industry unions to picket some airlines over the casualisation of workers and the refusal to also allow them be part of labour in the industry.
At the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) also know as MMA1 of the Lagos airport, security personnel from the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Aviation Security (AVSEC) were seen stationed at different strategic locations at the airport to forestall a possible breakdown of law and order during the rally.
“Many of the security agencies were drafted from outside the aviation industry,” a source told Daily Sun. “It’s probably because of the fear that the picketing by the union on Air Peace that flies out of the GAT could lead to flight disruption and hence the drafting of more security to the airport,” the source explained.
However, there was no disruption of flight operations at the GAT as boarding of passengers continued unhindered and flights were landing and taking off.
The General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Mr. Olayinka Abioye, who addressed the rally at the Lagos airport however expressed his displeasure at the invitation of security agencies outside the airport Police command to beef up security while the rally lasted
Meanwhile the management of Orange Group and Consolidated Holdings, yesterday, signed agreements with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to allow its workers to join workers union. The agreements were however signed after the NLC had disrupted the operations of the two companies through picketing. The workers had arrived the head office of Orange Group as early as 7 a.m and denied both the staff, management and other visitors access to the premises of the company.
The picketing led by the Vice President of NLC and the Chairman Anti-Casualisation committee, Mr. Solomon Adelegan lasted for more than four hours before the workers moved to Consolidated Business Holdings Limited for similar operation.
Adelegan said, casualisation and refusal of the workers the freedom to be unionise were the reasons labour was picketing the two companies.
At the meeting with NLC, the management of Orange Group led by the Logistics Manager, Reginald Ukaefu, among others resolved that the issue of unionisation is a right and not a privilege.
The agreement which was signed by the two also stated that, “No worker arising from the picketing October 5, 2017 shall be victimised, while another meeting has been scheduled for Friday October 13, 2017 to look at issue of casualisation and unionisation.”
However, at Consolidated Business Holdings, violence erupted as members of the union descended on the Administrative Manager, Mr. Gbenga Oyesiji, with sticks, claiming he assaulted a member of the union the last time they visited the company.
It took the intervention of the NLC Vice President before he was rescued from the mob and whisked away into the van that conveyed the union to the company.
Some members of staff had accused the management of several anti labour practices which include casualisation, backlog of salary, no health provisions among others.
was ongoing.
He said the rally was not to ground Air Peace operations but to sensitise workers on the benefits of joining unions in the industry.
Abioye said that the union would next month (November) carry its sensitisation campaigns to other airlines that operate at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Two (MMA2), Lagos. The airlines, according to him are Med-View, First Nation and Azman Air.
He said: “I want to believe that Air Peace has some skeletons in its cupboard because there is no reason why extra security should be added to what the Airport Command has and we have been saying this, it is inappropriate and unnecessary for an employer of labour in our sector to take the step the airline has taken.”
“We have a Commissioner of Police seated in the airport and there are responsible police within the airport. These are police officers who have been dealing with the unions for more than 20 years and we are a very responsible body, even when we want to embark on industrial actions we write officially to the Commissioner’s office who disseminates our letters to all the security outposts for numbering and as you can see the police from the airport are here.
“The NLC and the House of Representatives have written to us asking us to give them names of companies within the aviation sector and airlines where there is casualisation of workers or those organisations that prevent their workers from joining the unions.
“We have complied with that directive, we have supplied names and I tell you before the end of November a lot of things will happen here,” he added.