Workers Urge FG To Probe Airtel’s Labour Practices

Oct 6, 2011 – Airtel employees have pleaded with the federal government to compel the management of the telecommunications company to comply with basic labour standards as obtained in the telecommunications sector.

This was contained in a statement signed by Foluso Taiwo, the Chairman of the Airtel Branch of the National Union of Postal and Telecommunications Employees (NUPTE) after the protest of Airtel workers in Abuja on Tuesday.

The statement quoted Taiwo as refuting the Airtel management’s claim that the company had been complying with market trends and practices, regarding welfare of Airtel workers.

“We observed that before more than 3000 staff were laid off by Airtel and  the sacked workers could not call one another free nor browse the Internet freely,” he said.

Taiwo said that the management of Airtel had migrated the lines of the sacked workers to default, an act, he said, was only applicable to sacked workers.

“We are demanding that we should be compensated for the numbers of months and years we have put in the services of the company,” he said.

Taiwo added that those still working should be given the right environment to work. “There are health and occupational hazards affecting us now and that may affect us sooner in the future, even when we might have left the company,” he said.

Airtel workers, on Tuesday, protested the slashing of their salaries and the mass sacking of workers.

The workers were seen carrying placards with inscriptions: ‘We are no slaves to Indians’, ‘Independence gift: Airtel- sacks 3000 workers’, ‘We work but we are still poor’, ‘Say no to slavery’, ‘The revolution is here, Nigeria is our own’. Daily Times