The management of the private terminal at the local wing of the Lagos airport, otherwise known as MMA2. Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), had described the picketing of the terminal by the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association Nigeria (ATSSSAN) as illegal.
A statement issued by the terminal management while accusing the union of clearly disrupting its operations, said the action of ATSSSAN ran contrary to laid down principles of industrial relations hence, “in total violation of the laws of Nigeria, our Terminal was shut down at 2:30 AM on 1st November, 2022 by Airport Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN).
“There was no proper notice of this damaging behaviour. The Union brought members who are not employees of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) to prevent the employees of BASL from working. This is also an unlawful action. Our relationship is with union members that are our employees and not external members.
“This is clearly an illegal action and continues to set a bad precedent in Nigeria. The alleged cause of this industrial action is our decision to lay off some of our staff who we consider unproductive. It is our inherent right to manage our business in the most prudent manner and we should not be intimidated by external forces as is being done in this case.”
The BASL management also described as wrong the claim by the union that “we should apply the conditions of service which we signed in June 2021 retrospectively. Again, this is contrary to established rules of industrial relations and the laws of Nigeria.
“On being made aware of a court order issued by the National Industrial Court on 31st October, 2022, the Unions disregarded the order and continue to lock up our premises and disturb the operations of the Terminal in a clear violation of the court order. This is a recipe for anarchy.
“We remain very law-abiding citizens and use this medium to apologise to all our clients and stakeholders for the totally unacceptable behaviour of the Unions.”
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