The Nigeria’s telecom sector may experience glitches as about 800 Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association workers embarked on strike to cripple services nationwide. The strike which began on Monday with demands including reinstatement of sacked workers, recognition of the union, improved working conditions, and remittance of membership dues. The group’s Secretary-General, Okonu Abdullahi, said the association’s 800 workers play a significant role in managing critical infrastructure like base stations for infrastructure companies such as IHS, Huawei, etc.
“The strike has become inevitable because of the prevalent precarious working conditions our members are enduring in the sector, the refusal of the employers to recognize and respect the constitutional right of these workers to freely associate with the union, and the unjust sack of three members of the union,” it stated in its seven-day strike notice.
Adding that members of the union include field maintenance engineers, transmission engineers, customer service engineers, fibre engineers, and other critical staff working for telecom service companies.
The culpable companies include among others, Huawei Technologies Nigeria Limited, Tylium Nigeria Limited, Specific Tools & Techniques, CPNL (Chinese Pacific Networks Limited) and CITCC (China International Telecommunications Construction Corporation), JUSPARTNER.
Though, telcos like MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9mobile own base stations and fibre infrastructure but often outsource management to servicing companies which in turn led to premature loss of job and low pay.
