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The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers of Nigeria stormed Bristow Helicopters around 6.30am and shut down all its offices in Port Harcourt thereby grounding all flight schedules on Thursday.
Passengers of Bristow Helicopters in Port Harcourt, Rivers state were left stranded as the protesters along side national officials and the state Chairman of Trade Union Congress, (TUC) Isaac Balami shut down operations.
Balami said for the past ten years their pilots and engineers working with Bristow Helicopters have suffered untold hardship due to discriminatory and slavish policies of the management of Bristow Helicopters.
He said Nigerian pilots and engineers are treated like slaves in their own country.
“A job that a Nigerian can do they sack him and give it to a foreigner and pay him more. They have been sacking our co-pilots and the employing white men. We are even more competent than them. Today no helicopter of Bristow will fly until the Managing Director comes to answer us. We have also discovered that the management do not care about the welfare of workers. So before it becomes a safety issue they must come and hear us.”
Asked if shutting down the operations of the airline will assuage the feelings of his members, Balami said “This is just a few days warning strike to draw that attention of management to dialogue with us. Bristow operations cover about 60 per cent of the oil and gas sector of our economy, they know the implication of shutting down if they refuse to dialogue with us.
