11th June, 2021
By Muhaimin Olowoporoku
The Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PTECSSAN) has said they will embark on a three-day warning strike from June 16.
Opeyemi Tomori, PTECSSAN President and Okonu Abdullahi, the General Secretary signed the notice of strike, stating that the strike is to protest precarious working conditions and gross disregard for laws by employers.
They noted that they agreed to embark on the warning strike during the association’s national executive council meeting on Tuesday.
The body raised concerns over anti-labour practices, increasing spate of precarious work, working for 24 hours, disregard for occupational health and safety, lack of hazard allowance and poor remuneration.
PTECSSAN are also demanding that HUAWEI Technologies Nigeria Limited, ATC, 9mobile, Globacom, Smile, IHS, Airtel, IPNX Nigeria, Spectranet, MAINONE, Ntel, Swift and other companies that have not allowed their employees to belong to labour unions should respect the right of the workers to freely associate with the union.
Other demands of the association include the immediate regularisation of employment of all the casual workers in the sector, a stop to continued abuse of expatriate quota policy in the sector, provision of PPE equipment for field engineers and ensuring occupational health and safety among others.
“This strike has become inevitable because of growing precarious working conditions in the sector and gross disregard for our laws and its institutions,” the statement reads.
“This is the 21st Century; workers in the sector are still being treated like slaves even though slavery has long been abolished all over the world.
“We have made series of efforts in the past, including but not limited to escalating the issues to the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy and the House Committee on Communications, yet, these employers believe they are bigger than the nation and would not respect our institutions.”