Following the sack of three top management staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) by the federal government alleging sabotage on the power reform process, there are strong indications that electricity workers’ unions are planning to ruffle the feathers of the government by calling out the workers for industrial action to express their reservation over the removal of their colleagues.
The three unions; Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC), and the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), of the Electricity sector said that they had subsisting collective agreements with government on several issues unresolved and instead the government is taking actions that are anti-labour.
They lamented that the government was running away from abiding by? product of social dialogue/negotiation.
According to them, if urgent steps were not taken to address the grievances of the unions, days ahead could witness industrial action by workers raising fears of further worsening of the power situation in the country.
The unions led by Joe Ajaero and Mansur Musa, General Secretary and President of NUEE, respectively; Abiodun Ogunsegha and Bede Opara, General Secretary and President General of SSAEAC, respectively and Olukayode Ogunbiyi and Temple Ubani, Secretary and President of NUP Electricity Sector, respectively, pointed out in their petition to the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, that they agreed in the last round of negotiation that the Corporate Headquarters of PHCN shall remain with full complement of staff until the final liquidation of PHCN when all the labour issues would have been resolved.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the market operator, Uzoma Achinanya, one of the three top management staff removed by the government? has been top among those opposing the move by government not to reintegrate the Corporate Headquarter staff in the succeeding power companies.