Following the seven-day ultimatum by the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) to Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) to review the Conditions of Service of its workers, SAHCOL has begun to discuss better terms of service for its workers.
NUATE had issued an ultimatum to SAHCOL in a letter dated August 15, 2017 addressed to the Managing Director of SAHCOL and signed by its General Secretary, Olayinka Abioye, stating that their members would ground the company’s operation.
NUATE had accused the ground handling company of “flagrant avoidance of the union” since 2014 to negotiate the condition of service of its members.
According to the letter several efforts to bring the management to the negotiating table had failed over the years, threatening that if the issue was not addressed within seven days, beginning from Wednesday, the union would not hesitate to ground the operation of the company.
The union also alleged that the inability of SAHCOL’s management to review upward the conditions of service of its members had led to daily mental anguish by the workers, adding that none of the several promises to the workers by the company had been fulfilled in the past three years.
“Having waited patiently and painfully for the review of the company’s expired and out-dated conditions of service, and bearing in mind that the persistent delay of management is in bad faith, notice is hereby given that the reviewed conditions of service must be ratified for implementation within seven days. If within the stipulated period, the issue was not resolved, we may not be able to stop our members from exercising their rights to withdrawing their services, at the expiration of this seven. Those who have ears, let them hear, but it would be said that as a responsive and responsible union, we have tried to engage your management, but rebuffed tactically,” the letter reads in part.
Meanwhile, the General Manager, Corporate Communications at SAHCOL, Mr. Basil Agboarumi, told MMS Plus that SAHCOL has started discussions on the conditions of service of its workers.
“The company has started discussion on improving the terms of service. This process is a long one but it has been ongoing for a while and we have almost concluded. It is just one or two items that are remaining.” Basil said.
However, Mr. Basil couldn’t give a timeline as to how long it would take to provide the new terms of service for the SAHCOL workers.
Recall that about a year ago, some union leaders in the company were sacked and their names published in some newspapers for their involvement in union activities, a situation that took the intervention of the Ministry of Labour and Productivity for the union leaders to be recalled and re-instated back to their various positions.
