The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NUEE

  • Ex-PHCN workers protest non-payment of severance benefits

    Ex-PHCN workers protest non-payment of severance benefits

    • Threaten shutdown of operation

    Disengaged Workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) under aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) yesterday protested against non-payment of their severance benefits by the Federal Government and threatened to shut down operation.

    The protests took place nationwide, with the workers barricading the entrance to the PHCN headquarters in Abuja, those of Ikeja and Eko Electricity Distribution Companies in Lagos.

    In Enugu, the protesters carried placards some of which read, “complete the payment of Severance Benefit to Staff”, “Pay us our 2013 bonus”, “Re-engage the disengaged casuals, anti-Union activities should be discouraged,” ‘Retirement benefits should be paid to staff who retired before November 2013” and “Pay death benefits to deceased families, our workers need protection.”

    The aggrieved electricity workers also lamented the non-remittance to the union’s Check-off deductions from their salaries for the months of November and December 2013 amounting to over N2 million by the new owners.

    In Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, no fewer than six workers of the defunct PHCN have died without receiving their retirement savings allowance (RSA), the state chapter of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has said.

    The late workers were some of those disengaged from service in October last year following the privatisation of the company.

    The state chair of NUEE, Bamidele Okogbe, alleged that the federal government was wrong on its claim on the payment of the allowance.

    Addressing reporters at the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company Limited, the Chairman of NUEE, Abuja chapter, Comrade Wisdom Nwachukwu, said the union has discovered that one of the banks located at the Abuja Central Area was one of the banks delaying the final process of payment packages.

    His words: “We had a case where one or two of us threatened that we had learnt what they were doing and within a space of four hours, those two individuals were paid, that is to tell you that something is going wrong. We have people that have been paid with wrong account numbers. We gave them the real account details; they paid the people with the wrong account details making the transactions not to sail through.”

     

  • Electricity workers threaten to down tools

    Electricity workers threaten to down tools

    The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike from Tuesday should the federal government fail to meet its demands to recall sacked workers over perceived victimisation.

    Speaking at a press briefing in Benin City yesterday, the Zonal Organising Secretary of the Union, Comrade Joseph Ndem, chided the federal government for the “unfair and unbalanced” disengagement.

    It called on the federal government to rescind the decision and recall affected workers on or before Tuesday.

    The aggrieved workers lamented a situation where their young and productive counterparts were made to leave the job while those due for retirement are left to work with the new owners in the generation sector.

    Expressing their displeasure and disagreement at the recent disengagement from service of young, dynamic and able-bodied personnel from the services of the organisation, Ndem noted that most of those disengaged had not been paid their full severance in the generation and transmission sectors.

    He described the purported sale of Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to be another “food for the boys” because the so-called foreign investors the federal government claimed will be coming to acquire the organisations are never there.

    “What we have is the federal government sharing PHCN to 15 or 16 loyal members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as their own share of the national cake,” he alleged.

    He advised the federal government to take a second look at the matter with a view to ensuring that justice was done by recalling the sacked workers for the benefit of the system.

     

  • ‘Sacked PHCN workers’ll get jobs’

    ‘Sacked PHCN workers’ll get jobs’

    For the almost 47, 000 workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) who lost their jobs recently, there is hope.

    The workers that constituted the bulk of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC), stakeholders said, are employable.

    The Chief Executive Officer, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), Sunday Adeyemi said the disengaged workers stand better chances of landing jobs in the post – sector reforms era than any new employee from outside.

    He said this view was true because thousands of the disengaged electricity sector workers have the knowledge of the operations of the power plants and other PHCN facilities across the country, adding that it would take months, or even years for the new owners of the power companies to source for new manpower for their companies.

    Insisting that experience counts and plays a major role in the recruitment of workers, particularly for those workers in technical and high skill areas, the CIPM Registrar said all the disengaged PHCN workers need do, is update and improve on their skills and competencies, to make them relevant to the new owners of the power companies.

    “The workers need to be ready to move on and find a positive way forward. It is also important to have worked out any issues concerning wrongful termination because this can prevent you from moving on,” he said, adding that it was important for the former workers to leave whatever pain they felt behind them, saying the they should not be ashamed of their job loss.

    Chairman, Lagos Chapter, NUEE, Mr. Adeleke Ibrahim, said the Federal Government’s reasons for not having the money, or will to implement the reforms was a challenge.

    He had pointed out that while the sector unions were not against privatisation of the PHCN, or the power reforms, he urged the government to pay the workers their entitlements before the new owners start operations, noting that this would put the disengaged workers on a sure footing in their quest to forge ahead in their new career.

    The Lagos State NUEE boss said some of the issues in contention, which included the non-payment of retirement savings to pension fund administrators and non-remittance of dues of two per cent deducted from workers’ salaries to the unions, be addressed, adding that a workforce without pensions and one that faces threats of sack, would not be active or productive.

  • Disengaged PHCN workers threaten blackout over severance pay

    Disengaged PHCN workers threaten blackout over severance pay

    Electricity workers under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), have threatened blackout the entire country if the Federal Government fails to settle their entitlements.

    NUEE General Secretary, Comrade Joe Ajaero, who this in Jos yesterday, said the union has uncovered a plot by the government to use the military to eject its members from office, warning that “any station the Federal Government moves in with force, without settling labour issues, should be shutdown.

    “We have been patient enough and we cannot continue to be patient while they are driving us to the grave. I am saying that enough of this provocation,” stressing that no amount of “military presence will make us to abandon our entitlement, because it is not by power or might. We are not going to get there with gun or knife, but the soldiers will be there and there will be darkness in this country.

    “They have even written letters, when they come with those military men. Unfortunately, those signing those letters are not the people that employed you; I told them that one has legal implication.”

    Ajaero said that PHCN staff were yet to receive their pension component, saying it was unfortunate that the public is being misinformed that PHCN staff have been paid about N400billion entitlements they are being owed.

    Ajaero, who is also the Deputy National President of Nigeria Labour Congress said, the government spent $11billion in constructing the power plants and $16billion was spent on the same power plants during the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, but unfortunately the power plants were sold for $3billion.

    Also speaking the Secretary of NUEE North-East zone, Anthony Sule, said, “As I speak to you, I cover North-East zone, no worker in both Jos Zonal Office and Jos Business Unit has been paid, incidentally Jos Business Unit is about the largest in this zone, all the other business units of Benue, Gombe and Bauchi there are still pockets of payments left undone.

  • FG gets ultimatum on PHCN workers’ severance package

    FG gets ultimatum on PHCN workers’ severance package

    The National Union of Electricity Employees has threatened to stage a nationwide protest if payment of Power Holding Company of Nigeria workers’ severance package is not implemented by the Federal Government.

    Mr. Adeleke Ibrahim, the Chairman, Lagos Chapter of NUEE, Mr. Adeleke Ibrahim, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos that the union had given an ultimatum of end of July.

    Ibrahim said that the payment had suffered setbacks due to the inability of the Federal Ministry of Power to put their records straight.

    He, however, advised the committees and government agencies saddled with the computation of the workers’ severance package to expedite action and ensure they were paid on time.

    According to Ibrahim, the union will resist any further delay in payment of the severance package as from the end of this month.

    “At the end of this month, if nothing is done, we will come out as usual and Nigerians will now know who is who. We are not pretending over that,’’ he said.

    Ibrahim said the workers had waited long enough since last year for the severance package to be paid.

    “Our members keep worrying us that the money is being delayed.

    Ibrahim urged government to fulfill its pledge to pay the workers by the end of July.