The Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies Union (SSAEACU), has threatened a showdown with the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Plc over the latter’s alleged sacking of scores of workers without paying them their entitlements.
The Assistant General Secretary of the association, Comrade Innocent Douglas, described the action of the company as an act of injustice, and accused the management of failing to abide by the terms of an agreement reached in 2020.
This came as one of the disengaged PHED workers, Enefaa Douglas, told newsmen in Port Harcourt that his sacking and those of others were unexpected, having put in six years with the company.
He presented his sack letter dated December 30, 2020, for examination.
Douglas said the body would not tolerate such treatment meted out to workers.
He said, “In our conditions of service that we signed, if you want to lay off a worker that has worked for five years and above, you give him 50 or 40 per cent of his total emolument.
“If you are giving the staff a letter, you also give him his money. But if you withhold his money, and you give a staff letter to go, when is the staff going to access his money?
“What that means is that the staff does not have access to the office anymore, and that money can stay up to one or two years as the case may be,” Douglas said.
He directed the remaining staff who were yet to collect their letters of disengagement not to do so without their entitlements being paid.
“If the management wants to give you letter without your money, it becomes a labour issue. When staff refused a letter, it means there is a caveat or an issue, and the decision of management does not stand until such issues are resolved.
“So, any staff that went there to collect letter is doing that at his own peril,” he added, as he urged such workers to report to the union for necessary action.
Earlier, a visibly angry Douglas had narrated how he received the news of his sacking, which he described as sudden and shocking.
“They (PHED) said they don’t need my services again, and that I should sign my acknowledgment with my account detail forms that they will credit my account. I did, but till now, I was not given any money. They did not give any specific date or time to pay.”
It was gathered that over 50 workers of the power distribution firm were affected.
Several efforts to reach PHED’s acting Manager, Corporate Communications, Chioma Aninwe, for comments were unsuccessful as her mobile line was unavailable until press time.