During a protest on Monday, Members of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Electricity Employees arm, shut down the office of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHED, in Rivers State.
The protest according to the staff is as a result of the poor welfare of electricity workers in PHED, adding that the electricity distribution company had refused to sign the workers’ condition of service and procedural agreement.
According to Joseph Ajaero, the General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees ;
“The electricity workers, Port Harcourt electricity zone which covers Port Harcourt, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Bayelsa states have shut down the headquarters of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company for refusing to sign workers’ condition of service and procedural agreement.
“That all the electricity companies in the country have signed conditions of service except Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company and organising slave labour here, you don’t work in a place without condition of service, that is where rules of engagement and procedures are stated for the workplace, so there must be industrial democracy in the workplace.
“We started our protest at 12 midnight today and we’ll be here till further notice and if we leave here and these issues are not resolved, we will take a solidarity action nationwide.”
