NUATE threatens legal action over sacked workers

The Nigerian Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has threatened to sue the Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Ltd. (BASL), if it fails to reinstate 20 employees it recently sacked.

The union’s General Secretary, Mr Olayinka Abioye, gave the warning recently in Lagos.

Abioye alleged that the workers were sacked by BASL, operators of the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 (MMA 2), Lagos, for indicating interest to belong to unions in the sector.

According to him, if negotiations fail to actualise the desired result, the union may be compelled to institute a legal action against the company.

Bi-Courtney had in a statement signed its spokesman, Mr Steve Omolale, said that the threat by the union to disrupt operations at its terminal was, “an act of lawlessness”. 

Abioye confirmed that the parties held a meeting last Tuesday to find amicable settlement to the dispute.

He said the company insisted that its board needed to approve the unionisation of the workers, which was out rightly rejected by the union’s representatives.

Abioye said the response of the company to the issue would determine whether the union would shut down BASL operations.

He said: “The company’s workers who were sacked had already joined the union and the management was infuriated that they joined the union, so they sacked them.

This is contrary to what the public might have heard in the media. They were sacked because they joined the union.