NAHCO workers down tools over sack of 30 workers, gratuity

Workers of the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company Plc, yesterday downed tools to protest the sack of 30 workers and other alleged anti-worker policy of the firm.
  As early as 11am, the workers, numbering over 50, with their unions, disrupted activities at the company's head office at the Lagos airport.
  Beside the protest over the sack of 30 of its workers, the workers' unions- the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the Air Transport Senior StaffStaff Association of Nigeria (ATSSAN), called for salary review of the employees, decried what they termed selective promotion and unfair gratuity payment administration.
  The crisis forced the management to hold an emergency meeting with the unions, which lasted for about two hours.
  At the meeting were the Acting Managing Director of NAHCO, Nobert Bieldman; General Manager, Human Resources and Organisational Development, Umar Birmah; ATTSAN's National President, Benjamin Okewu; his scribe, Abiola Olayinka, among others.
  Bieldman told reporters that few months ago, the unions gave the firm issues they wanted them to address in terms of workers’ welfare, saying three of the five issues had been resolved.
  He denied that 30 workers were relieved of their jobs as insinuated by the workers.
  Rather, he said they were hired to do certain jobs for a specified period of time when the job was expected to have completed.
  Consequently, he said the company only yesterday conducted tests for the disengaged workers with a view to giving them permanent employment.
  “For our promotion exercise, we have equal distribution of all the ethnic groups in this company. I don't know where this is coming from.
  "We did a promotion exercise recently and we found out that our revenue cannot cope with mass promotion. We are a public company.”
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/business-news/129201-nahco-workers-down-tools-over-sack-of-30-workers-gratuity

Culled from The Guardian