The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has appealed to electricity workers to suspend their proposed strike, billed to begin on August 17.
The Managing Director, TCN, Dr Sule Abdulaziz, made the appeal in a letter to the workers on Tuesday following the threat of the workers to embark on strike to drive home their demands.
The workers under the aegis of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) had on August 15 directed its members to picket TCN offices nationwide on August 16, after which they would embark on strike on August 17.
The General Secretary, NUEE, Joe Ajaero, had in a statement said the picketing was to protest the directive by the TCN board that all Principal Managers in acting capacity going to Acting General Manager must appear for a promotion interview.
Ajaero said the directive was in contravention of the workers’ conditions of service and career progression paths, and alleged that it was unilaterally done without the relevant stakeholders.
Other issues raised include stigmatisation of staff from the office of the Head of Service of the Federation from working in other areas in the power sector, and non-payment of December 2019 entitlement of ex-PHCN staff.
Abdulaziz however said that the management has suspended the proposed interview for those on acting appointment of Assistant General Managers and General Managers while they conclude discussion with the board.
“On the other two issues: circular from the office of Head of Service on stigmatisation of the defunct PHCN staff; payment of entitlement of ex-PHCN staff by market operator, he said the management has contacted the Minister of Power for further action.
Also, the Minister of State for Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, in a letter dated August 15, 2022 to the union, said that the ministry was committed to proffering solutions that would be acceptable to all parties concerned.
He appealed to the great union to allow them two weeks from the date of the letter to address the issues and come up with proposals toward acceptable resolution of all issues.