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Airtel Nigeria Reopens After Labour Union Shutdown

By on October 10, 2011

Airtel Nigeria has thanked its customers across the country particularly those in the Federal Capital Territory and environs as it opened its offices across the country following an end to the face off over outsourcing between labour and its business partners.

Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr Rajan Swaroop in a statement said the Telco was grateful for the loyalty of its customers while the impasse lasted. Airtel has also restored services to the Federal Capital Territory and adjoining parts of northern Nigeria .

Swaroop said: “We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience the situation may have caused our customers just as we thank them for their understanding. We equally commend our customers for their loyalty and abiding faith in the Airtel brand.

“We wish to reassure customers of Airtel’s continuous commitment to providing Nigerians a world-class mobile network, innovative and relevant products and services and affordable tariffs which will empower our people to succeed in their business and personal endeavours. Airtel remains committed to the task of building a robust telecommunications infrastructure and providing Nigerians a pleasant communication experience.”

He added: “We reiterate that the unfortunate incident was due to a misunderstanding between our business partners, their employees and labour unions. Though the affected workers were not employees of Airtel Nigeria , the company would continue to persuade its partners to ensure fair treatment within the provisions of Nigerian labour laws and the dictates of best practice within and outside the industry.

“We thank the Federal Ministry of Labour, Federal Ministry of Communications Technology, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) the Senate and the House of Representatives for their roles in ensuring return to normalcy. We remain passionate about our role as key player in the Nigerian economy in line with our vision of becoming the most loved brand of Nigerians.”

Officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the National Union of Post and Telecommunications Empolyees (NUPTE) forcefully closed offices and customer shops of Airtel across the country following a dispute over outsourcing between the workers and Airtel partners, Spanco Channel BPO Limited and Tech Mahindra.

While the union claimed workers were sacked, Tech Mahindra and Spanco asserted that it was only a matter of expiration of the existing contracts between them and the human resources firms that recruited the workers.

The reopening of the offices and the restoration of service in Abuja and most of northern Nigeria was the result of an agreement reached by Airtel, its partners, and the Labour Unions, NUPTE and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).

With this, the business partners, Spanco, and Tech Mahindra will ensure that all the call centre staff members affected by the contract expiration before the dispute will resume work not later than Thursday, October 13, 2011 .

The communiqué mandated labour to assist actively in restoring normalcy to the operations of Airtel across the country.

Additionally, negotiation will commence with a view to putting in place a collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The parties have to conclude the CBA on or before October 28, 2011 , according to the communiqué.

One Comment

  1. Ayoadedaramola

    October 11, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    @ Airtel: it baffles me that those Call Centre Agents each time greets Airtel customers that calls into the call cantre “Welcome to Airtel” yet Airtel still claims they are not his staffs. Who then is your staffs, whose customers do they attend to. Spanco’s customers or Tech Mahindra’s. I have never seen a more selfish or so conceited Company that denies his responsibilities like Airtel. Is it the faceless and voiceless people in the Banana Island offices that are your staffs. These agents are called the frontline officers, they are the ones your customers interact with first.