By Adekunle Williams and Solomon Asowata
Lagos – The management of Bristow Helicopters (Nigeria) Limited on Thursday refuted allegations of discriminating against their Nigerian pilots and engineers, and breaching of the country’s expatriate quota.
Bristow made the denial in a statement issued by the airline’s media consultant, Mr Mohammed Abdullahi, in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) had earlier on Thursday shutdown the airline’s operations at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
NAAPE also ordered its members to withdraw their services to the airline indefinitely until all the pending issues involving their welfare are resolved.
The union said its affiliate, the United Labour Congress (ULC), had also directed that aviation fuel would not be supplied to the Bristow Group during the period in solidarity with the workers.
NAAPE’s President, Mr Abednego Galadima accused Bristow of discriminating against indigenous pilots and engineers and abuse of Nigeria’s expatriates quota laws.
He alleged that the management had continued to deny qualified national engineers promotion into senior positions while continually training expatriates to hold same positions in perpetuity.
However, Bristow described the union’s directive to the workers to withdraw their services without due notification to the airline as a violation of the relevant labour laws.
“The leadership of NAAPE has made a number of inaccurate allegations against Bristow to support this action.
“For the record, Bristow has acted (and will continue to act) in accordance with all national laws relating to its operations and with respect to its personnel.
“In addition, since its inception, Bristow continues to be the leading recruiter and trainer of national engineers and pilots in Nigeria,” the airline said.
According to the airline, many of them have since progressed to take up very senior executive positions within the Bristow Group and other companies operating within Nigeria and internationally.
Bristow said it remained committed to the promotion of Nigerian local content, capability and capacity within the industry, despite the very challenging economic climate.
“The issues raised by NAAPE have already been subject of ongoing discussions between NAAPE and Bristow.
“It is therefore very disappointing that NAAPE has elected to take this premature action contrary to the ongoing dialogue and spirit of partnership that exists between the parties.
“Notwithstanding, Bristow will continue to pursue the path of constructive engagement, in a way that is safe, sustainable and legally compliant,” it said. (NAN)