The
National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) on Thursday shut
down the operations of Bristow Helicopters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport,
Lagos.
The
action of the pilots and engineers grounded Bristow from providing vital
services to its clients in the oil and gas sector.
NAAPE
said the grouse of its members stemmed from the pay disparity between the
expatriate personnel and their Nigerian counterparts, which the union insisted
must be reviewed.
On
a visit to the headquarters of the company near the General Aviation Terminal
(GAT) of the Lagos airport and observed that some of the union members were
seen protesting at the gate of the company.
The
strike was in realisation of the threat of the union on Wednesday warning that
the pilots and engineers under NAAPE would go on strike from 2400hrs of
Wednesday, March 30 to 2400hrs on Friday April 1, resulting from the pay
disparity through which Nigerian pilots and engineers are discriminated against
in favour of foreign nationals, “as well as the highly inimical absence of
valid conditions of service”.
The
General Secretary of NAAPE, Mr. Ocheme Aba pointed out that all efforts of his
union to get the management of Bristow to redress these acts of injustice and
violation of the constitution of Nigeria, as well as contravention of Bristow
Code of Business Integrity (COBI) had failed to yield any positive results.
But
the spokesman of Bristow, Mr. Cornelius Onuoha said the company has been in
dialogue with NAAPE over the past few months regarding this matter and a
proposal was recently sent to NAAPE for its consideration.
“The Federal Ministry of Labour has intervened in the matter and had advised the union to stop its action and maintain the status quo until a meeting scheduled for April.
“This
action is coming at a time when the global oil and gas industry is facing
severe challenges and the Nigerian economy is undergoing serious disruptions
with a number of clients reducing their activities. Bristow continues to keep
its obligations to clients and employees.
“Bristow
is disappointed that despite our concerted efforts to keep our Nigeria
operations running as smoothly and efficiently as possible, this action will
temporarily impact flight schedules. We will continue to encourage dialogue and
partnership with all stakeholders during this period,” he said.
However, NAAPE in a statement later, said it had suspended the strike after the intervention of the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige.
“I
am to inform you that the Federal Ministry of Labour has intervened in the
matter and has made a passionate appeal to the union to allow the ministry
offer its mediation service,” the NAAPE general secretary said.
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