Telecom workers picket MTN office in Lagos

Workers under the aegis of the Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PTECSSAN), on Wednesday, picketed MTN Nigeria Plc office in the Falomo area of Lagos State to drive home some demands.

The workers held placards with inscriptions such as “Workers Rights are Human Rights”, “Unionism is a Right and not a Privilege” and chanted solidarity songs.

Some of the union’s grievances include MTN’s alleged resistance to workers’ right to freedom of association, organise and collective bargaining.

The union also accused MTN of paying exit packages to its management staff, but refusing to do same to the lower cadre.

The PTECSSAN General Secretary, Okonu Abdullahi, accused MTN management of not giving the union opportunity to negotiate the working conditions of workers in the organisation.

Abdullahi said every effort made to communicate with the management via emails proved abortive.

“When you have a trade Union, there must be a collective bargaining agreement, which is a pointer to the existence of the union in any organisation.

“But, MTN is running away from negotiating the CBA: the proceedural agreement was signed and as result of this, it escalated to the Ministry of Labour.

“A very good example which the management is running from is the exit benefits: how can workers be working for several number of years and you are not giving them terminal benefits.

“We insisted as a responsible union that there must be an exit benefit. In the proceedural agreement, it was agreed that no item should be exempted, but now to come to the table to start negotiating, MTN took off,” he said.

The PTECSSAN secretary added that the picketing exercise at the MTN office would be a continuous one, unless the company negotiated and agreed on the collective bargaining agreement within the shortest possible time.

Abdullahi said: “Ultimately, if they are still refusing like they have always been doing to sit down with us and negotiate, we can assure them that their network will have to be disrupted.”

The Star

Segun Ojo