Airtel's contract staff protest non payment of salary * Will not affect our integrity, quality - MD


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Photo: Placard by a protesting worker in Abuja on Thursday, June 9, 2011.

Abuja (WorldStage Newsonline)-- Some 800 contract workers of of leading mobile phone services provider, Bharti Airtel Nigeria embarked on a protest on Thursday in Abuja over an alleged May salary being owed by the organization.
Airtel confirmed that the workers were employees at the Call Centre in Asokoro, Abuja, run by one of our service providers, Spanco Nigeria Limited.
It said Spanco Nigeria Limited which had been providing Call Centre Services to Airtel customers in Nigeria protested a dispute between them and their employer.
The aggrieved that down tool early hours of on Thursday locked the entrance gate of the Abuja branch office of Airtel, demanding among other things, the restoration of their National Health Insurance Scheme, downward review of working hours, status of pregnant women and unfavorable annual leave policy.
It would be the first protest in the history of the company which had passed through about five ownerships in 10 years with the lat being Zain.
The workers, mostly of customer care service, conducted their protest in orderly manner were closely monitored but uninterrupted by armed policemen.
After a meeting between the management of the Abuja office and about 10 representatives of the workers, Mr. Sunday Al-Hassan, President of the National Union of Postal and Telecommunication Employees (NUPTE) told the workers that management had agreed to pay the May salary within two days while the balance of the ones already paid would be added to the June salary.
He also explained that the four outsource companies would remit the money to Airtel that will eventually pay it with the June salary to the workers .
He said the issue of the discontinued health insurance scheme would be restored while, expected allowances would be paid those going for annual leave. He said ID cards would be issued the aggrieved workers within a week while other demands would be resolved as well.
The workers complained that they were being subjected to inhuman treatment by the Indian company.
One of the staff said though they were under contract employment when the company was owned by Zain, they never had problem with the payment of their salaries.
“Apart from that, we are all on contract, we are working for an outsource company but we never have issues of this nature until the coming of Airtel and the imposition of another Indian outsource company that perform the same duties as ours,” the staff who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
“At entry point, we were never given enough time to scrutinize our contract papers; we were hurried into signing it. The main contention for today’s protest was the manner we were being paid since the coming of Airtel.
“It was just yesterday that some of us started receiving bank alert for our May salary, and from the usual N74, 000, what they are being paid was between N1, 500 and N45, 000. There was no explanation from the management for this development.
“Also, since the coming of Airtel, we have been working longer hours while our free days were reduced from four to two. Each customer care is expected to take at least 150 calls on a shift with no more than two minutes on a call.
“On each compliant call, one would use at four applications to resolve the issue, and we are not expected to spend more than two minutes on a call while the difference between two calls is just about 10 seconds. It is cruel, to say the least.
“Another problem is that our health insurance scheme was stopped while deductions were still being made without remittance to appropriate authorities.
“Pregnant women were also not allowed to work here because the management just sacked all of them one day without any explanation and this was not stated in the contract papers. We were also expected to collect no allowance for going on annual leave. I have never seen this kind of inhuman treatment before.”
A statement signed by Rajan Swaroop, CEO & Managing Director of Airtel Networks Limited on Thursday assured Nigerians that the incident would not affect the integrity of the network or the quality of service delivery to customers in Abuja area.
“While respecting the contractual relationship between Spanco and its employees, Airtel has stepped in to ensure speedy resolution of the crisis in recognition of international best labour practices and the interest of our customers,” he said.
“At Airtel, one of our core values, as a world class employer of choice and a responsible corporate citizen, is the unwavering commitment to the welfare, personal and professional accomplishments of our employees.
“The Management of Airtel regrets the unfortunate incident and restates its commitment to the development of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.”
Story by Samuel Folorunso (info@worldstagegroup.com)