PHCN Sale: Electricity Workers Protest Monday
Electricity workers will today picket the headquarters of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in Lagos and Abuja in continuation of their agitation for settlement of their entitlement before the transfer of ownership of PHCN legacy firms to private investors.
The workers under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) have directed their members nationwide to resist the takeover of PHCN without concluding negotiation on the fate of the workers.
NUEE in a statement signed by its General Secretary Comrade Joe Ajaero said the Federal Government is bent on handing over PHCN facilities to investors.
“This position of Government is not only unfair and condemnable but is a direct affront on the economic social and physical wellbeing of the workers and their families,” the statement read in part.
It said at the news of any unit of PHCN facility being handed over to any investor without the conclusion of labour issues, “our services should be withdrawn without delay and it must remain so until otherwise directed by the leadership of the union.”
Ajaero said over 5,000 casual workers of PHCN were not captured during the biometric exercise carried out by the Government leaving their fate to be hanging in the balance.
Also, a statement issued by SSAEAC signed by its President General Comrade Bede Opara and Secretary General, comrade Abiodun Ogunsegha said the workers will resist the planned handover of PHCN to investors without settling labour issues because “while Government agreed to pay and had started to pay some workers in PHCN; hitherto, it had not paid 70% of the entire staff as claimed by the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo.
