Nigerian Unions declare dispute with Bristow Helicopters

[bristowburnout]

There's a lot of this in Rotorheads, but Bristow operate fixed wing too. Bristow has a past history of disputes and racism, but the new MD, known to some as Mike Armlick, some as Mike Himmler, but actually Mike Imlach, has come in and gone straight for confrontation with all his employees, whether Nigerian or expatriate. Three labour unions have sent a petition to Bill Chiles, President and CEO of Bristow Group warning that the choice of Mr Imlach for Nigeria will lead to untold hardship, anarchy and industrial unrest as a result of his alleged unprogressive leadership style.. This is already borne out by the large number of staff he has sacked in the few months since his arrival, with no thought or care about all the families which will be affected by his actions. On the Rotorheads forum he has been compared to a Hitler and a Himmler in his dictatorial tactics and by all accounts he's very aggressive and may well be acting outside the law.

‘Due to the MD’s insensitiveness, high handedness, racist tendencies and witch hunting of those who are bold enough to tell him the truth, the generality of our workforce now go about their duties in fear, uncertain of what will happen to them tomorrow due to the managing director’s incessant threats to sack or retrench them’ the unions noted.

Behaviour like this will get him nowhere in Nigeria and it could only profit Bristow as a company, its employees and shareholders if such an obviously divisive character who has ruined morale was got rid of soonest. I gather that many in Baker Hughes were very, very happy to see the back of him.

Get rid of aggressive, racist leader (http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads-23/)

[unstable load]

BBO,

At risk of igniting a big fire here, which is NOT my intention, I am going to say that during my time in Nigeria I met more than a few people who were merely drawing a salary for attendance and work was a place you went to, not a thing you did.

This goes for both nationals and expats, so if Imlach has come in and cleaned out the dusty corners of the hangars, then it is not necessarily a bad thing.
I also know that anyone who does something unpopular in Nigeria is rascist/colonial/tyrranical according to the nationals, so there is nothing new there.
As for the families that are destitute as a consequence of this tyrant, my sympathies go out to them, BUT it should be remembered that the employee/employer relationship is a two-way street and requires some giving of the employee's skill/input before they are free to take the salary.

Sadly though, there will always be the victims of personality clashes who get binned along with the riff-raff and that is wrong to do , but also a sad fact of the way things were/are done at BHNL. The nationals should be happy that they have the courts/unions to help them because the expats only have the labour laws of BIAGL and that is not worth a bucket of warm spit.

Obviously this post is based on what I experienced there and may be off the mark in terms of the actual goings on at BHNL right now, and if it is then I stand corrected.

[TomBola]

UL,

You have made a valid point, but this man really is everything he is portrayed as being (though I don't know if he's a racist as he's as much an arrogant bully with both expatriates and nationals). He's completely destroyed morale at all levels in the company, to the point where people's attitude to work is being affected. The sooner senior management in America notice and act on this the better it will be for the company and its employees. Any company is only as good as its employees help to make it and this man is destroying any desire the employees had to make the company successful by his bullying, aggressive manner. He either needs to change or go because if not both the employees and the company will deteriorate.

[unstable load]

Tom,

It's funny how the old ghosts seem to come back. When I was there the MD at the time was deemed to be satan reincarnated and had only been interested in his own business ventures and now some years later it looks to have got worse, which no-one then thought was possible.

I can't help wondering whether its the environment that does it to new arrivals or the people who are sent there are the ones that either show a special aptitude at being a-holes or are the ones with nowhere left to go before the company gets rid of them too.

I like the N150 for coffee thing, though. That is the mark of a true cretin. My time there was pretty enjoyable from a work point of view with great guys mostly to work with, but always with a shadow of "what's management going to do next to make things more unpleasant?".
I remember them bending over backwards to accomodate Shell in removing us from houses in the RA so "Shellies" could have them, only to have a good few of them stand empty for ages. We got moved to Coronation Street then the non 155 guys got moved to Prodeco in the interests of teambuilding so the pure Shell guys wouldn't get fleas off us S76 scum.

Well, that seems to be life for Nigeria. It seems that things at the flying budgie are no better morale wise, just different topics of complaint/divisiveness.

You'd think that the more unpleasant a place was, the better the crews would stick together to make it work, but the oposite seems to be the rule.

[TomBola]

many members will not be able to make it for the union meeting in Lagos this weekend, so nothing may be forthcoming, but that doesn't mean we will let Imlach get away with what he is doing to OUR company. He is an interloper. This is Nigeria in Africa and 60% of the company is owned by NIGERIAN shareholders. We are NOT Bristow International, we are NOT Bristow International Aviation Guernsey Limited, we are NOT West African Strategic Business Unit, we are the real Bristow Helicopters NIGERIA - we are Nigerians. We are not stupid, we are not unqualified, we are not racist, we are not slaves, we are the national employees of a Nigerian company. To him we may be just characters of binary code on an accounting program, but we are people, we are human, we breathe, we bleed, we have families, we too wish to retire one day and would like to be as rich as him. He is an utterly ruthless man who will never admit he has responsibility for anything, but ask people in his last company, Baker Hughes about this man :mad:. Ask if he feels any responsibility for the Nigerian staff whose lives and whose families lives he has ruined? I'm sure he does not. He is totally unfeeling and he is backed up by people who care nothing for this country, our people or this company. He is an adventurer here for a short time to maximise profit and make money for his retirement on the backs of people he regards as his slaves :mad:. Whatever happens, whatever he does, one day he will have to answer to his maker as we all will. How will he be judged?

[Aksai Oiler]

TomBola

I have read your thread and I am sorry to say you and the Nigerian Unions need a reality check. Mike Imlach has been brought in to run a business - I am sure that the 60% of Bristow's Nigerian shareholders understand this. In running a business your aim is not to make friends but to ensure that the business stays in business by making a profit and provides secure employment for your employees.

I know that Mike Imlach was not responsible for the death of a Baker Hughes employee "last year" and I find your comments completely offensive on this subject. You and your fellow Nigerian workers have a dispute with the Bristow's Management - please deal with it in a professional manner and not send veiled threats. I would also ask the Moderators to please remove this thread from the website.

[TomBola]

Aksai Oiler,


Mike Himmler was actually brought in to take over from Neddy Holdon who, according to the 'cascade briefings' we were given had already made WASBU the second most profitable business unit in the Bristow Group after the North Sea. How does laying off many employees in a supposedly-profitable business give them or their families any security?

[Phone Wind]

Looks from here as if both CHC and Bristow have more than their share of employees, both national and expatriate who have been dispossessed of their gruntle just now :E

[soggyboxers]

Nigeria is not the only country in the world where there are labour disputes. Sometimes when these occur there is some fairly extreme invective. However, strikes rarely benefit anybody and in Nigeria these things are normally eventually settled peacefully, so let's not get too carried away about something which could happen anywhere. In a multi-culturally diverse working environment such as Nigeria it can sometimes be difficult for people to understand each other, but it's amazing that with some companies having as many as 30 different nationalities from all over the globe, things are normally pretty harmonious, despite occasional allegations of 'mafias' of one or another nationality.

[Aksai Oiler]

Tombola - check your PMs please & no I am not Mike Imlach