Nigeria’s National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) plans to take industrial action against the management of Kenya Airways (KQ) after the latter fired 22 Nigerians.
According to Olayinka Abioye, the General Secretary of NUATE, the union is basing its plans on KQ’s alleged unfair treatment of the Nigerian employees.
“The union has already reported the issue to several top agencies of government. We are consulting with the staff now before we plan our next line of industrial action. Definitely, there will be action, the consequences of which we did not know at the moment,” Abioye stated.
“We are going to make sure that we ground the operations of the airline in Nigeria if the management fails to do the needful.’’
Abioye also said KQ was in breach of extant labour laws by declining to pay the employees and proclaiming them as redundant. Additionally, he said the union had been in communication with KQ’s management before they independently decided to sack the employees.
“Management does not have the right to unilaterally negotiate the severance package of workers without inputs from the union; that is not how it works and I am sure they cannot do that in Kenya. So, there is certainly going to be an action unless they officially write us and call us back to the table to begin to renegotiate,” he added.
In a letter dated April 11 to the union, the airline blamed the union for its unwillingness to engage the management in the negotiations on behalf of the sacked workers.
In the letter, Bridgette Imbuga, acting chief human resources officer said the airline did its best to work out the terms for the workers. She further asserted that the workers that were let go were undertaking sales and commercial roles which were contracted to a general sales agent thereby making leading to redundancy.
Imbuga also noted that the airline’s decision was in accordance with sections 20 (1) (a) and (b) of the Labour Act, Cap 198, Laws of Nigeria. Furthermore, she said the workers would get “the payment of their one month salary in lieu of notice, severance allowance at the rate of 23 days’ basic salary for every completed year of service” and payment for unused leave days accumulated as at the date of redundancy.
KQ hired Total Air Logistics Limited as the GSA in order to increase efficiency. “We are seeking operational efficiency to the benefit of our staff, shareholders and guests,” Sebastian Mikosz KQ’s chief executive said.
