Also, over 27 business managers have so far resigned their appointments with electricity companies taken over by new owners on November 1, 2013. Checks by New Telegraph showed that Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company led the pack of staff resignation.
Four business manager have resigned there. Spokesperson for the firm, Tokunbo Peters, could not be reached on phone for comment. Yola and Jos Electricity Distribution Companies also received resignation letters tendered by eight management staff while the remaining eight distribution companies also lost 15 management staff to resignation.
“Some of them were advised to resign after they had been shown their sack letters,” the source said, adding that about 5,357 staff in the senior and junior cadres have been pencilled down by the 11 distribution companies for sack.
The Ibadan and Jos power firms are, according to the source, to sack 1,580 workers inherited from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
These firms needed to downsize to overcome their financial challenges, it was gathered.
The Jos DISCO is being managed by AURA Nigeria Limited, while the Ibadan DISCO is being managed by Integrated Energy Distribution and Management Company, which also owns the Yola Electricity Distribution Company. It was learnt that the Jos DISCO was planning to sack 1,000 of its workers, while the Ibadan DISCO had pencilled down 580 names for disengagement.
“The NUEE locked out the management and staff of the Jos DISCO for a whole day last week after the workers got to know that the new owners wanted to sack 1,000 workers at the end of April.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had planned to picket the company for one week but it was reopened the following day,” a source said.
Earlier, the acting secretary, NLC, Plateau State, Mr. Anthony John, who led the workers to picket the firm, said: “The NLC says no to unfair labour practices; we want light, not sacking of our members; we want foreign investors, not foreign exploiters; we demand the recall of all our sacked union officials. “What has been happening between November and now is evil. Workers have the right to protect their interests and to have a union.
But between November last year and now, the company has insisted that there will be no union. Several of our union officials who fought for the rights of the workers have been sacked.
In this place, graduates are paid N10,000; what a shame! All the jobs have been outsourced; the level of exploitation is too high; we can’t sit down and keep quiet.” According to a source, the Ibadan DISCO is also planning to sack 580 workers and would have been picketed last week over the issue but for the intervention of the State Security Service (SSS).
“The Ibadan DISCO would have been shut down by workers last week but the union had a closed-door meeting with the management and the matter was resolved. But I can tell you that the company is planning to sack 580 workers,” the source explained. He said that the company, like other DISCOs, was finding it difficult to pay salaries.
Assistant General Secretary, NUEE, Western Zone, Mr. Johnson Fathi, who spoke with New Telegraph last Thursday, confirmed that the union wanted to picket the company on Wednesday over anti-labour practices, but that the exercise was shelved when the SSS intervened.
He said the unions, comprising NLC, NUEE and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the management of the IBEDC recently met at the SSS office in Ibadan over anti-labour practices being allegedly perpetrated by the management. About 5,303 workers are currently on the payroll of the IBEDC. The new investors sacked 2,000 when they took over the DISCO last year.
Source: New Telegraph
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