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Nigeria's aviation union threatens to shut Caverton Helicopters over wages

The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) has threatened  to shut down the operations of Caverton Helicopters for failure to pay pilots and engineers  salaries  within the next  72 hours.

Expressing deep concern over the well-being of pilots and engineers, NAAPE’s General Secretary, Comrade Olayinka Aboiye, criticized the Caverton’s negligence for the infraction.

Aboiye cited non-payment of salaries for the move to ground the operations of the helicopter company noting that workers have not been paid December, some January and others February salaries.

 He also lamented non-adherence to agreements reached stressing that Caverton was using outdated exchange rates as a benchmark for the workers.

Aboiye noted:" The position of our members and our union is that we want management to offset this payment in terms of that agreement by paying the current dollar rate and not the old rate”

“Why would management continue to owe staff salaries when these staff are working for them . The pilots and engineers are attached to Shell contracts, while Shell is not operating, Shell is paying management of Caverton helicopters the salaries of all their workers. So, what is the difficulty by the management making available this money to our members”

He accused Caverton of withholding pension contributions and failing to compensate redundant workers as per agreements.

NAAPE has given Caverton a three-day ultimatum to resolve these issues, threatening permanent shutdown if demands aren’t met.

The union said: “If between now and Wednesday our members are not paid fully their entitlements, we have no choice than to shut down Caverton permanently.”

Despite numerous meetings and ultimatums, Caverton management has failed to address NAAPE’s concerns, risking imminent labor unrest.