The President of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Illitrus Ahmadu, on Wednesday told journalists that almost all the workers placed on redundancy following the picketing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two had been paid off.
This came after subsequent negotiations by the aviation unions and Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited.
According to reports, 29 out of the 30 workers had been given cheques with different amounts, depending on their years of service and position with the company as at the time of the crisis.
The ATSSSAN, the National Union of Air Transport Employees and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers had in October picketed the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two, to protest the sacking of some BASL workers over their decision to join aviation unions.
The strike was called off when the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and other security agencies met with the unions and BASL and an agreement was reached for the company to place the sacked workers on redundancy while negotiation for their benefits continued.
“Our affected members in BASL are presently receiving their packages from the company. We were able to negotiate their disengagement package for them after they were declared redundant by the company,” Ahmadu said.
He stated that the unions were able to negotiate the redundancy package for their members affected by the exercise with the company, while some of them also got letters to join the unions after their disengagement from the company.
He, however, said the unions could not protect those set of workers because as at the time they joined the unions, they were already disengaged from the company.
It was also gathered that following the picketing of the terminal by the unions, the managing director and some other top officials of the BASL might have been removed by the management.
