The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Monday picketed the headquarters of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) in Kano state.
The union’s action, Blueprint gathered, was meant to to further press home their demand for the management to as a matter of urgency meet the 13-point demand of its members.
Some of the demands include payment of 13th month salaries of 2019 and 2020, selective promotions, compliance to the condition of service of KEDCO, remittance of 48 month arrears deducted from members and unlawful dismissal of workers on the pretext of low performance.
Speaking during the picketing, Kano NLC chairman, Comrade Ado Minjibir threatened that the NLC would resort to destabilising the operations of the company until the demands of the workers were met.
Minjibir said, “the management of KEDCO is hereby called upon to address these urgently, otherwise, we want to assure them that this is the beginning, picketing is one of the constitutional right of Labour. After picketing, if the right thing was not done, we will continue to push pressure to the management until the right thing is done.
“Similarly, private company to desist from sacking its workers, who tested to COVID-19. It is unconstitutional and uncalled for. And the union would embarked on destabilising such a company until such a worker is re-engaged,” Minjibir said.
Meanwhile, in a swift reaction, the management said the move by the unions were an attempt to gain public sympathy and divert the attention from issues on the ground noting that if the company must survive competency and performance must be prioritized in line with the policy and condition of service.
In a statement by it Head of Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Sani Shawai, the management said the company would not tolerate incompetency and under-performance in its franchise.
“The Management of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) has a performance policy that the unions (Senior Staff Association and Allied Company, SSAEAC and National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE) have agreed to abide as part of the conditions of service and based on this took a decision to disengage some staff after series of trainings and grace periods for the affected staff to improve,” he said.
