It was gathered learnt that the development was hinged on the retrenchment of over 4, 000 workers by the management of the organization.
Leading the protest, which led to the closure of the office, the state NLC chairman, Bosede Daramola, said members of the union insisted that the office would remain shut until the National Assembly concludes investigation on the matter.
Members of the various unions that make up NLC stormed the area office of Airtel, located along the Oba-Adesida road, in Akure at about 10.30am. The aggrieved workers sang solidarity songs in support of their sacked colleagues.
Airtel workers had resisted the enforcement of the NLC order but later complied when the pressure was too much.
Addressing some of the Airtel workers, the state NLC chairman said the union’s action was based on the way 4,000 staffers of the company were unceremoniously laid off.
She also lamented the casualisation of most of the organisation’s staffers, despite the money the company realises yearly.
Chairman of the National Union of Postal and Telecommunication Employees (NUPTE), Ehinola Nelson, said the company would remain shut pending the outcome of the National Assembly findings.
According to him, it is wrong for the management of Airtel to disengage the services of 3,000 workers without considering the effect of such action.
MEMBERS of the House of Representatives also waded into the management crisis of Airtel which led to the retrenchment of over 3,000 workers last Sunday as the Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC, was directed to ensure that the workers were reinstated immediately.
Rep Yusuf Tajudeen, who represents Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency in a motion tagged: “Matter of urgent National interest: Sack of 3,000 Nigerian employees by the Indian management team of Airtel, “noted that the workers were arbitrarily and indiscriminately sacked.”
He further stressed that these Nigerians who were employed after rigorous assessment and examination had been thrown into the labour market by a group of Indians who manage the telecommunications firm.
He said: “The management team reneged in the agreement signed between Airtel and the Nigerian workers when the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, brokered truce and is alarming that Airtel had concluded plans to replace the sacked Nigerians with Indians, Asians and others who have lower qualifications and experience.”
Yusuf explained that “Nigerians were sacked after toiling, sacrificing and enduring very unfriendly and inhuman condition for years in Airtel and if the conduct of the telecommunication outfit is left unchecked, it can set a precedence for other companies managed by foreign nationals.”
The House, however, resolved that the House Committee on Communications and Labour, Employment and Productivity investigate the matter and report back to it within two weeks.
It also instructed the Ministry of Communications Technology to direct NCC to wade into the matter by directing Airtel to revert to status quo, pending the conclusion of the matter.
It would be recalled that the management of the most troubled telecommunications carrier that had changed nomenclature more than any telecoms outfit in Nigeria recently, fired over 3,000 workers alleging poor productivity.
Last year, the workers embarked on an industrial action in Abuja where they alleged slave labour as the Indian management team deliberately refused to pay them accumulated overtime and other sundry allowances.
