DSS wades in as NLC shuts down Ikeja Electric over poor welfare of staff

The Department of State Services (DSS) has waded in to resolve the lingering issue between one of the electricity distribution companies, Ikeja Electric and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over alleged ill-treatment of its staff. The Assistant General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Comrade Mbang Ntukubes, disclosed this in an interview with Daily Trust […]

The Department of State Services (DSS) has waded in to resolve the lingering issue between one of the electricity distribution companies, Ikeja Electric and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over alleged ill-treatment of its staff.

The Assistant General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Comrade Mbang Ntukubes, disclosed this in an interview with Daily Trust at the headquarters of Ikeja Electric in Lagos.

Comrade Ntukubes, who expressed displeasure, said the management of the disco has been using kid gloves to implement the agreement between the union and the organisation on the condition of service to its staff.

“We have a lot of disagreement here, the place here has been turned into a slave camp. The management treats the workers as slaves.”

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“We jointly negotiated a condition of service that made provisions on how things should be handled including indiscipline, promotion, training, exit but they have jettisoned all these provisions,” he said.

He stressed that management had refused to implement new minimum wage and sack staff without following the condition of service.

“They sack at will and promote who they want to without following the condition of service. Now we are talking about the new minimum wage, they are not ready to say anything about It.”

“We have been on it for close to two years. They are not ready but they are ready to listen,” he said.

He added that lack of the organisation’s commitment to fulfill its part in the condition of service led to the outburst of the union.

“The management has not come directly to say what the pain is. Of course we had a meeting on Friday and the meeting bróke down. What you are seeing is all the reaction to the peaceful means we have tried to resolve this issues that are related to payment

“The discussions we are having are through the government. DSS has come here to invite us to see whether we can get a middle ground,” he said.