By Victor Ahiuma-Young & Ediri  Ejoh,

Lagos—ORGANISED labour in the nation’s power sector yesterday made good its threat to cripple the operations of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, Ikeja DISCO, over the alleged sack of 400 workers, including a deputy president of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, among other grievances.

Electricity

On the platform of NUEE and its Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC counterpart, the workers  arrived at the premises of the distribution company around 7am and cordoned it off, preventing going and coming into the company.

However, the management of the company claimed only 229 employees were affected in the disengagement exercise after they failed to meet the required parameters for the company’s performance assessment.

In a statement by its Head of Corporate Communications, Mr. Felix Ofulue, the company also claimed it had, between January 2015 and February 2016, employed 603 new hands, and at the same time promoted 74 others.

“We will like to state that the number of employees that were disengaged was 229 and not 400 as earlier reported. In accordance with best practice, employees in the organization went through a thorough, transparent and objective performance assessment exercise and those that were deemed to be performing below the required performance objectives were exited from the organization. This is also to ensure that Ikeja Electric maintains an assemblage of the right staff in the right roles that are equipped to perform optimally’, he said.

The  Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, NUEE and SSAEAC, last week issued a seven-day ultimatum to the management to recall the affected workers unconditionally or risk unprecedented industrial action.

Speaking, General Secretary, NUEE, Joseph Ajaero, explained that the management of IKEDC had refused to negotiate the conditions of service with the union since the privatisation in 2013, following which the company allegedly subjected the workers to anti-labour treatment and redundancy at will.

Similarly, President, NUEE, Martin Ozugwu said: “We are here on protest against the victimisation of 400 workers that were sacked last week. We are here against the anti-labour practices being perpetrated by  IKEDC. They have been violating the Act which stipulated that every condition must be stipulated before you sack any workers. That means condition of service must be put in place.

Corroborating, General Secretary, SSAEAC, Umar Abubakar, said, “By the time IKEDC gets away with this, other companies will follow suit. The earlier we stop them the better. We want them to call the workers back, provide conditions of service that will seal the relationship between workers and their employers. People are dying. You cannot sack anybody without justification.”