The Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PTECSSAN) on Thursday picketed Huawei technologies Nigeria Limited situated at Oriental Hotel, Lekki in Lagos, over what it described as precarious working conditions of its staff.
It was reliably gathered that members of the unions, staff of Huawei as early as 8.30am converged in front of the Oriental Hotel, bearing different placards and singing solidarity songs, reports The Nation.
The General Secretary of the union, Comrade Okonu Abdullahi, who led the team, accused the management of Huawei of engaging in anti-labour practices and has refused to go in line with international best practices.
According to him, the failure of the company to comply with the union’s demands after several warnings led to the picketing.
He said that the strike will no doubt destroy the activities of the company because it is going to be continuous until their demand is met.
“We were constrained to embark on this industrial action when it became apparent to us that your company is not labour friendly and is not interested in peaceful and amicable resolutions of the concerns of our members.
“This carefree attitude of the company has kept the strike action lingering this long and, also led to this action of ours today. We have resolved that the picketing acting shall be a continuous one until the company is cured of its errors-precarious working conditions it subjects our members.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we shall not be backing down on the warning strike except the following are agreed with the union.”
In a statement made available to our correspondent, the unions, amongst other things sought for immediate reinstatement of the three unjustified sacked members of the union; recognition of the fundamental rights of the employees to freely associate with the union; immediate recognition of the unions as negotiating body for the employees on workers’ welfare; immediate remittance of membership dues into the union’s accounts earlier provided.
Besides, they demanded for the immediate recognition of the years of service of these workers; immediate commencement of appropriate pensions deduction and remittance of same as required by the Pension Act; immediate negotiation on review of salaries of the workers to meet the economic reality in the country today, immediate approval of the National Health Insurance Scheme that covers the employees, their spouses, and four of their dependents as well as immediate enrollment of union members in the Group Life Insurance as stipulated in the Pension Reform Act 2004, Section 9(3) among others.
