Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff of Nigeria (PTECSSAN) has declared a 3-day warning strike which will be effective from this week.
The union in a statement, signed by its President, Opeyemi Tomori, recently, cited precarious working conditions and gross disregard for laws and institutions by employers in the telecommunications and communications sector.
“This is announcing to the world that our Union shall be embarking on a 3-day warning strike in the telecommunications and communications sector in Nigeria starting from 12 Midnight on Tuesday 16th June, 2021. This decision was taken at the emergency National Administrative Council (NAC) meeting held on 7th June, 2021 and further sanctioned by National Executive Council (NEC) at its meeting of the Union held on 8th June, 2021.
In line with the directives of both the NAC and the NEC the Union has perfected plans to mobilise workers in the industry to embark on the strike accordingly”, the statement said.
According to the union, the strike has become inevitable because of growing precarious working conditions in the sector and gross disregard for our laws and its institutions adding that workers in the sector are still being treated like slaves even though slavery has long been abolished all over the world.
The union noted that it 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.
“Some of the anti-labour practices in the sector are as follows; breach of freedom of association and right to organize, expatriate quota policy infractions, victimization of its union members, poor and discriminatory remuneration, absence of exit package amongst others.
Those that have been sacked must be recalled forthwith.That all the companies in the sectors stop forthwith arbitrary sack of workers in the sector.
The Telecom sector is the only sector that is immune to COVID-19 fall outs, hence, we do not see any reason for workers to be losing their jobs”, the union said.
The union further added that if their demands are not met on or before the 15th June, 2021, it would go ahead with the initial 3-day warning of industrial action.
“We seize this opportunity to call on all workers in the sector to cooperate with us as we commence the move towards sanitizing our beloved sector. We assure them that it shall no longer be business as usual in the sector.
To Nigerians, we would like to let them know that we regret the unfortunate consequences that our impending but inevitable action will cause them. We plead for understanding and urge them to bear with us”, it said.