Staff welfare: TCN begs electricity workers to suspend planned strike

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has appealed to electricity workers to suspend their proposed strike over “staff welfare”.

Sule Abdulaziz, managing director, TCN, made the appeal in a letter addressed to the workers on Tuesday.

The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) had directed its members to picket the offices of TCN on Tuesday, after which a strike action would commence on Wednesday.

But in the letter, Abdulaziz asked the union to “stay action”, assuring that TCN had taken steps to resolve the issues.

“We are pleased to inform you that management has suspended the proposed interview for those on acting appointment of assistant general, managers and general managers while we conclude discussion with the board,” the letter reads.

“On the other two issues — circular from the office of head of service on stigmatisation of the defunct PHCN staff and payment of entitlement of ex-PHCN staff by market operator — the management has contacted the honourable minister of power for his further action.

“In view of this development, we appeal to your union to stay action; please accept the assurances of our highest regards.”

Also, Goddy Jedy-Agba, minister of state for power, in a letter dated August 15, told the union that the ministry was committed to proffering solutions that would be acceptable to all parties concerned.

“May we appeal to your great union to allow us two weeks from the date of this letter to address the issues and come up with proposals toward acceptable resolution of all issues,” he said.

Meanwhile, NUEE (in a notice by Joe Ajaero, its general secretary) had said the picketing was to challenge a directive by the TCN board that all principal managers in acting capacity upgrading to acting-general manager capacity must appear for a promotion interview.

The union said the directive was in contravention of the workers’ conditions of service and career progression paths, adding that “it was unilaterally done without the relevant stakeholders”.

The group also complained about the failure of the authorities to pay the entitlement of former staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in December 2019.