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NLC Accuses Airtel of ‘naked exploitation and injustice'
as its partners speak
By Danlami Nmodu
Newsdiaryonline Tue Oct 4,2011
Airtel:
In the eye of the storm
The
Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC has vowed to ensure that the
offices of Airtel ,one of the GSM service providers in
Nigeria remain shut. Abdulwaheed Omar,NLC president in a press
briefing today accused Airtel of naked exploitation and
injustice against its workers.The umbrella labour union said the
GSM operator has failed to honour agreement reached with
mediators over the labour crisis rocking the company.Omar’s
address today was titled:“ Evils Of Casualisation: Airtel Will
Not Be Allowed To Enslave Nigerians”
He
said: “Airtel took over
the GSM Service Provider Zain. The company employed a handful of
workers and decided to turn almost all the permanent jobs in the
company into casual work.Rather than employ staff to work in the
company, Airtel contracted out the permanent jobs to two Indian
companies; Spanco Channel BPO Limited and Tech Mehindra. Since
these two parasitic companies cannot do the job, they in turn
hired three Nigerian companies; HR Index, C.C. SNL and Bezeleel
to hire Nigerians for the Airtel jobs.
“Airtel then
seconded hundreds of its staff inherited from Zain to these
third party companies. Some of these staff had worked for seven
years! It is under this exploitative arrangement the Nigerian
staff were made to work; some of them without letters of
appointment and identity cards, and non with a Condition of
Service. These categories of workers were also denied all rights
they were entitled to as Airtel staff or are supposed to benefit
as staff.
“Under such
unbearable working conditions, the workers went on strike in
July 2011 to demand for basic rights including the right to
unionise and payment of incentives paid by Airtel to staff.
“The NLC and
its affiliate union, the National Union of Posts and
Telecommunication Employees (NUPTE) intervened to protect the
workers against the power of the transnational Company, Airtel,
and its quite powerful collaborators in government who were
threatening the workers
To avert
crisis there was an intervention by some stakeholders and an
agreement was reached.Omar today accused Airtel of flouting the
agreement.Said the NLC President:“To circumvent implementing
this agreement, to avoid paying the workers their entitlement
and to punish them for joining a union, the Airtel Management in
collaboration with its parasitic partners offered the workers
impossible conditions if they are to retain their jobs. They
asked the workers to accept :1.
60 per cent pay cut;2.
Reduction of leave from
thirty-six (36) days to six (6) days;3.
A working week of six
days (8 hours/day shift = 48 hours/week)
“When the
workers refused, Airtel decided that its Call Centres and other
places these staff work should be closed and new staff
recruited. When on September 30, 2011, on the eve of our
country’s independence anniversary, the staff reported for work,
they were shocked to find their offices shut.
“Since Airtel
and its partners in the enslavement of Nigerians decided to
close the offices, the NLC will ensure they remain shut. The
Labour Movement will not allow Airtel to do business in Nigeria
if it denies workers their fundamental human rights including
that of unionization which is guaranteed under Section 40 of the
Nigerian Constitution” Omar said
Read the full
text of NLC President Omar’s address today:
EVILS OF
CASUALISATION: AIRTEL WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO ENSLAVE NIGERIANS
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) welcomes you to this press
conference which is primarily to expose the evils of casualising
permanent work, and the decision by the Airtel Management to
enslave Nigerians on the 51st independence
anniversary of our country.
As you know,
Airtel took over the GSM Service Provider Zain. The company
employed a handful of workers and decided to turn almost all the
permanent jobs in the company into casual work.
Rather than
employ staff to work in the company, Airtel contracted out the
permanent jobs to two Indian companies; Spanco Channel BPO
Limited and Tech Mehindra. Since these two parasitic companies
cannot do the job, they in turn hired three Nigerian companies;
HR Index, C.C. SNL and Bezeleel to hire Nigerians for the Airtel
jobs.
Airtel then
seconded hundreds of its staff inherited from Zain to these
third party companies. Some of these staff had worked for seven
years! It is under this exploitative arrangement the Nigerian
staff were made to work; some of them without letters of
appointment and identity cards, and non with a Condition of
Service. These categories of workers were also denied all rights
they were entitled to as Airtel staff or are supposed to benefit
as staff.
Under such
unbearable working conditions, the workers went on strike in
July 2011 to demand for basic rights including the right to
unionise and payment of incentives paid by Airtel to staff.
The NLC and
its affiliate union, the National Union of Posts and
Telecommunication Employees (NUPTE) intervened to protect the
workers against the power of the transnational Company, Airtel,
and its quite powerful collaborators in government who were
threatening the workers.
On Wednesday,
27th July. 2011 the Airtel Network signed a
three-point
agreement with the NLC and NUPTE which was witnessed by a
mutually agreed mediator, Bamidele Aturu Esq. The agreement
signed by Airtel Director, Paul Usoro, SAN, and Jubril Saba, its
Human Resources Manager stated clearly that the “Outstanding
Third Quarter, 2010 and First Quarter 2011 Incentive Scheme
“…shall be paid across board to all call centre/shop employees
on modalities to be worked out by the management of Airtel on or
before the 31st day of August, 2011 in consultation
with the workers representatives”.
The agreement
also provided that no worker will be victimized as a result of
the industrial action and that the Mediator will be allowed to
“resolve all outstanding industrial relations issues among the
stakeholders as soon as practicable”.
Unfortunately,
the Airtel Management has not implemented this agreement despite
spirited efforts by the NLC, and advice by the Mediator.
To circumvent
implementing this agreement, to avoid paying the workers their
entitlement and to punish them for joining a union, the Airtel
Management in collaboration with its parasitic partners offered
the workers impossible conditions if they are to retain their
jobs. They asked the workers to accept :
1.
60 per cent pay cut
2.
Reduction of leave from
thirty-six (36) days to six (6) days
3.
A working week of six
days (8 hours/day shift = 48 hours/week)
When the
workers refused, Airtel decided that its Call Centres and other
places these staff work should be closed and new staff
recruited. When on September 30, 2011, on the eve of our
country’s independence anniversary, the staff reported for work,
they were shocked to find their offices shut.
Since Airtel
and its partners in the enslavement of Nigerians decided to
close the offices, the NLC will ensure they remain shut. The
Labour Movement will not allow Airtel to do business in Nigeria
if it denies workers their fundamental human rights including
that of unionization which is guaranteed under Section 40 of the
Nigerian Constitution.
The NLC
advises Airtel Network and its collaborators to return to the
negotiation table and allow the Mediator it approved, to resolve
all matters otherwise, it will face with industrial actions by
the NLC and its affiliates.
It is
inconceivable that a company like Airtel which made over 50 per
cent of its first year $17billion revenue from Nigeria alone,
will seek to place Nigerians on less than half salary and deny
them basic rights. This advice to Airtel, also serves as notice
to all other local and foreign companies that are enslaving
Nigerians that the days of exploitation are at an end.
The NLC calls
on the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity to wake up to
its duties and defend Nigerians against naked exploitation and
injustice by companies like Airtel. Congress also calls on the
administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to protect, defend
and advance the interests of the Nigerian working people rather
than allow them to be enslaved in their country by unscrupulous
employers and business interests.
While workers
intend to resolve these matters through peaceful dialogue and
collective bargaining, the acts and actions of the employers
will determine Labour’s appropriate reaction.
Airtel BPO
partners speak:We
are recruiting more staff, not sacking, say Airtel BPO partners
Spanco
Channel BPO Limited and Tech Mahindra, global Business Process
Outsourcing companies and providers of Call Centre services to
Airtel Nigeria, have labelled as untrue messages in cyberspace
and in the media alleging that Airtel had sacked 3,000 call
agents due to disagreement over a purported plan to reduce
salaries.
The
companies said in a joint press statement that rather than sack
staff they are working on a business model that would see them
engage even more workers and make Nigeria the hub of
international call centre operations.
Mr. K.
Sankaralingam, CEO, Spanco Africa and Sujit Baksi, President,
Corporate Affairs and BSC, Tech Mahindra stated that contrary to
the claims of sack, the contract between the two firms and the
service providers who hired agents and posted to them ended on
September 30, 2011. Spanco and Tech Mahindra now want to hire
staff directly, including willing people among the 1600 staff in
the call centres in Abuja and Lagos.
The
statement read in part, “Last year, following the signing of a
landmark BPO Agreement with the Airtel Group, we jointly
inherited 1600 Call Centre agents from Bezaleel, HR Index, and
CCSNL who hitherto provided agents for the company known then as
Zain.
“The
contract existing between us and two of the agencies namely,
CCSNL and HR Index expired effective Friday September 30, 2011.
The third agency, Bezaleel’s contract will expire in January
2012. So, there is no issue of mass sack but expiration of
existing contracts.
“Prior to
the expiration of the contracts, we had engaged representatives
of the Agents and that of the organised labour on how to manage
their transition to our roll. Due to a lack of consensus on the
way forward and an apparent threat to our facilities by some of
the agents, we were compelled to suspend operations at the call
centres last Friday, September 30, 2011.”
The
companies also reiterated commitment to offer some of the
affected agents new contracts with attendant salaries and
benefits based on their qualifications and experience.
The
statement reads, “We will also recruit new agents, because the
vision is to expand the Call Centre business in Nigeria to 5000
capacity, ultimately. On the issue of salaries, we state
categorically that as world class organisations, we offer our
employees remuneration and benefits comparable to standards
across the world and in compliance with the working and labour
laws of Nigeria.”
Meanwhile,
telecommunications service provider Airtel Nigeria on Monday
debunked claims that it sacked any staff not to mention 3000
persons.
Speaking
through its Director, Human Resources, Jibril Saba, Airtel said
the affected agents were at no time its members of staff, but
rather inherited workers from the duo of CCSNL and HR Index, two
of the three outsourcing companies that had business pact with
Zain, as the company was formerly called.
“At no
time did Airtel hire directly these employees. They were hired
through our third-party agents, and we are not under obligation
to discuss with the employees of our third-party agents. We
never had them on our pay roll”, Saba said.
Speaking
further, Mr. Saba stated that Airtel as a responsible employer
of choice would never support anything short of acceptable
standard of labour engagement as provided for by appropriate
Nigerian laws.
Saba
reiterated Airtel Nigeria’s commitment to best practice in all
aspects of its operations saying it would never allow any of its
business partners to implement policies that would affect the
morale of persons engaged to render service to the company.
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