The Nigeria Union of Postal and Telecommunications Employees (NUPTE) on Saturday urged telecommunications companies in Nigeria to adhere to trade union laws.

NUPTE’s National President, Mr Sunday Alhassan, told newsmen in Abuja that service providers in the telecommunications industry did not adhere to trade union practice in the country.

“We want to say empathically that they are giving the workers a very hard time in actually organising themselves to form union organisations.

“We will not hold back and see some of them flouting our trade union laws while in their own countries, workers do belong to unions and comply with rules.

“I don’t know, if it is the enforcement of the law in our country that is making these foreigners to come here and act as if trade union does not exist.’’

Alhassan cited Etisalat, where he said the workers had signed into the union but were denied to unionise by its management.

He said that the union had some time ago met with the organisation in the Ministry of Labour and Productivity and communiqué was signed by both parties to effect the interface.

“ We believed that if they are not ready for us to discuss properly on a round table, then we have no option than to go to the streets to settle the matter and those are some options that are open to labour,” he stated.

The NUPTE boss alleged that workers who had signed on to the membership of the union were sacked by the company, citing MTN as another organisation that was having problems with its workers.

“We have members who have signed on to membership of the union in MTN call centre in Jos, but right now, these workers are being subjected to under-utilisation, while some of them had differential pay, unlike the people in the call centres in Lagos, Ilorin and among others,” he alleged.

Alhassan, however, said that Airtel workers could attest to the fact that the presence of the union in their organisation had brought some level of stability and peace with productivity increased.

He questioned the fact that MTN was unionised in South African and in some other African countries, wondering why the telecommunications outfit prevented its workers to unionise in Nigeria.

“We want to say without mincing words that we are now ready to protect the interest of our members in these organisations and we want their management to listen very well and do what is right, so that they will not see the union as disrupting their business,’’ he advised.

Reacting to the allegations, Mr Enitan Denloye, Director, Brands and Communications, Etisalat Nigeria, told NAN in a telephone interview that the allegations against Etisalat were untrue.

“ We are committed to maintaining a conducive and productive work environment for our employees. We always encourage and support our employees to develop fulfilling and rewarding long-term careers at Etisalat Nigeria,” he said.

Denloye said the company always respected the laws of Nigeria, adding: “we want to make it clear that we have not in the past nor ever will terminate the appointment of an employee for associating with any labour union’’.

In his own reaction, Mr Deyemi Adekoya, Human Resources Manager, Communication Network Support Service Ltd, an outsourcing agent operating MTN call centers in Jos, said in a telephone interview that he was not authorised to speak for MTN.