The National Union of Air Transport Employees says its representatives will meet with the management of Air France-KLM on July 7 to resolve the dispute over outsourcing the airline’s Document Checking Unit to a private firm.
NUATE’s Assistant General Secretary, Olayinka Abioye, told the News Agency of Nigeria of the meeting in an interview in Lagos on Thursday.
Abioye said the meeting to address the fate of the workers whose jobs would be affected by the outsourcing had been scheduled to hold at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Abuja.
NAN reports that Air France-KLM had on July 1 handed over its Document Checking Unit to a private firm, Checkport Security Nigeria Limited.
Spokesperson of the airline, Olufunmilayo Ojesina, said in a statement that the move was in line with international practice.
NUATE, however disagreed, saying the move by the airline to sack those working with the Document Checking Unit while negotiations were still ongoing was against the Labour Law.
The union said the airline had engaged in unfair labour practice by paying certain funds into the accounts of the workers it intended to declare as redundant.
NAN reports that following the development, the union on Wednesday picketed the office of Air France-KLM at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and disrupted its flight operation.
Abioye told NAN that the union was able to prevent Checkport Security from taking over as earlier scheduled by the airline during the exercise.
He said it was later agreed that only the supervisors who were not affected by the outsourcing should be involved in carrying out the checking of passenger’s document.
He said: “We will continue to monitor the situation, pending when the issue will be resolved because Section 20 of the Labour Act gives conditions to be met concerning redundancy of workers.
“Negotiations are still underway and we have a meeting with the management of Air France-KLM on July 7 where we hope to resolve the issues at stake.
“If we fail to reach an amicable agreement, then the picketing of their operations will continue.”
Abioye said Checkport Security Nigeria Limited was one of NUATE’s partners, adding that the union had congratulated the firm on being awarded the contract.
“However, like we said in our letter, they are to stay action till we resolve the dispute with Air France-KLM,” Abioye said.
NAN.
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