National Union of Electricity Employees Suspends Strike
The leadership of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), says the union has suspended the ongoing strike by two weeks.
Mr Godfrey Abah, the Chairman, FCT chapter of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) said this in an interview with the news agency in Abuja on Wednesday.
Abah said that the suspension followed a meeting held with the Ministers of Labour, Mr. Chris Ngige, Mr Abubakar Aliyu, Powe as well as the Minister of State for Power, Mr Goddy Jedy-Agba, and the representative of the Head of Service.
Others at the meeting he said were the representative of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and the management of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). He said all the issues were presented and a high power delegation was set up to look into the matter and report back within two weeks.
”On that premise, we decided to suspend the strike for two weeks pending when the issues will be resolved, ” he said.
Abah also said that on the issue the union had with the TCN’s Board, they had written a letter to schedule a meeting with them to resolve the issue. NUEE had in a notice signed by its General Secretary, Mr Joe Ajaero directed its members to stop work effective Aug. 17.
”You are hereby enjoined to mobilise immediately for serious picketing of TCN Headquarters and Stations nationwide over the directive by the TCN Board that all Principal Managers in acting capacity going to Assistant General Manager must appear for a promotion interview.
”This directive is in contravention of our Conditions of Service and Career Progression Paths and was unilaterally done without the relevant Stakeholders,” the union said. READ: Nigeria’s Electricity Grid Collapse, TCN Says
The union also decried the failure of the authorities to pay the entitlements of former staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) since December 2019.
Recall that Nigeria was hit by a nationwide electricity blackout after workers at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) shut the national grid as they began an indefinite strike over what they said were unfair working conditions.
The grid capacity dropped to zero from 4,100 MW early on Wednesday, according to TCN. The National Union of Electricity Employees said in a notice to members that it was protesting against discriminatory promotion procedures at the state-owned transmission company and unfair labour practices in the power sector, among other grievances. # National Union of Electricity Employees Suspends Strike
