Helicopter Firm sacks 50 staff illegally, Union Threatens Action

Leadership of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, has threatened to ground operations of Caverton Helicopters over the sack of at least 50 of its members without following due process.

It also accused the company of what it termed “illegal deductions of salaries to the tune of 1,000%.”

In a letter addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the helicopter company, signed by its General-Secretary, Olayinka Abioye, NUATE accused the organisation of illegally deducting workers’ salaries since September this year.

The letter insisted that management erred in deducting staff salaries without any iota of consideration for rules, logic and applicable standards, stressing that the exercise was not meant to safeguard the company financially as a result of “drop of two Shell helicopters.”

The union further queried the non-uniformity in the deductions and failure to involve the unions for the exercise. It alleged that some staff salaries, rather than being deductedl either remained as it was or increased by as much as 200 and 350 per cent.

The letter purported further that management used “this discriminatory, segregated, corrupt and fraudulent exercise to rob some” of its members as a result of the closeness of some staff to certain elements within and outside the company.

“By the end of this month, some of the irregularities observed must be addressed, while all deductions hitherto made from staff since September without recourse to extant financial regulations of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must be reinstated to the workers,” the union said.

The letter emphasised that the union would not be held accountable for the consequences that may arise over the failure of the management to rectify the shortcomings pointed out by it.