Union grounds ASL over sack of manager, union chairman

Staff of catering company, Airline Services Limited (ASL) yesterday downed tools following the sack of the Chairman of the Union in ASL, Sule Muniru and the Quality Assurance Manager, Habiliment Ehimien, for trying to negotiate a better welfare for the workers.
With this development airlines expecting to get catering from the service company are in for a shock as in-flight service (food) may not be delivered to them owing to this strike.

When NFD arrived the scene the workers were seen singing solidarity songs but were locked within the premises under the watchful eyes of a detachment of men from the Nigerian Police from the Airport Police Command who were seen at the gate of the company quietly maintaining peace.
A source who spoke to our reporter under condition of anonymity said that the union has written to the police and the Ministry of Labour about the issue and how workers in the company were being oppressed by the management.
She said the situation degraded further with the arrival of a representative of Newrest, a catering company based in France, Laurent Moussard   to take over from the present Chief Executive Officer of ASL.
According to her, Laurent took over of the management of affairs because the France company bought over majority shares in ASL.

On how many workers have been sacked apart from the union chairman, she said that Abulimen Ehimien Quality Manager, was also fired alleged by the representative of the French company Laurent Moussard.

Alex Oniku, Secretary of the internal union, Comrade confirmed the development, added that the workers decided to stop working because the management sacked the chairman of the union for demanding for improved welfare for the workers and Quality Assurance Manager of the company, Abulimen Ehimien.

He stated that nobody knows how many people the management would sack or who will be the next victim, adding that the workers were being oppressed and brow beaten to submission and it was based on this that the workers decided to stop working  until these sacked were reinstated by the management led by Laurent Moussard

He said, “There is a crisis between the management and the union and the general workers in Lagos. Today, the management decided to terminate the appointment of the chairman of the union and we believe it is because of the crisis that is on or the collective bargaining that we have been doing with the management. We have been threatening to go to strike because of this, we have given the management and the management failed to look into the matter. And all these while the management has been going about threatening the staff.

Ifeoma Okeke