The strike by about 800 workers from the Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association poses a significant risk to Nigeria’s telecom sector.
The union, which represents mostly contract workers, threatened to cause severe disruptions to telecom operations if its demands were not satisfied, perhaps resulting in a communication blackout that would affect millions of users, according to The Punch.
The union’s demands, which were put forth before the strike started on Monday, include the return of membership dues, recognition of the union, better working conditions, and the reinstatement of some of the fired employees.
“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 recognise 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.
Commenting, the union’s Secretary-General, Okonu Abdullahi, said that the 800 employees of the association are pivotal to the operation of base stations and other vital infrastructure for infrastructure firms like IHS, Huawei, and others.
“The implications of the strike will be massive because we have told all our members not to respond to any service outage from our employers. The fact remains that there are outages every day, and if our engineers do not respond to those outages, subscribers in those areas will be affected,” he said.
He said the union’s members include field maintenance engineers, transmission engineers, customer service engineers, fibre engineers, and other essential staff working for telecom service companies.
Their roles are crucial for the smooth operation of telecom services, and their strike could severely impact the industry’s ability to maintain and deliver services.
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.
It is reported that telcos like MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9mobile own base stations and fibre infrastructure but often outsource management to servicing companies.
These telecom companies often subcontract work to smaller contractors who employ the striking workers, complicating the issue of worker welfare and job security.
The union had previously staged a similar strike in April, which was resolved through a conciliatory meeting arranged by the Ministry of Labour with the telecom servicing companies.
According to the PTECSSAN secretary, “The labour ministry had intervened in our previous industrial action, but unfortunately, the companies are still repeating the same issues, which have now escalated because we have more members participating in this strike.”
When asked if the Federal Government or the companies have engaged with the union on the current industrial action, he said, “We have given them ample opportunity to address our demands, but they have chosen to ignore us. If they continue to neglect our grievances, we will have no choice but to take more drastic measures.”
The officer in charge of the telecoms sector at the Ministry of Labour, Princess Powei has acknowledged the workers’ concerns and assured that the government is committed to resolving the issues promptly.
Powei, who was part of the team that resolved the previous strike by the workers in April, stated, “One thing I can assure you is that the strike will not linger. I will start making calls now to see what we can do to ensure that the grievances are addressed.”
Meanwhile, a top Huawei official from China, identified only as Bruce, denied that any of his team members were participating in the ongoing strike by the PTECSSAN.
Bruce stated that all employees were working in the office and had not received any notification about the strike.
“As far as I know, everyone is working, and I don’t think anyone is involved in this,” Bruce said. “However, I will verify the situation with my team.”
When questioned about field workers, the Huawei representative acknowledged that while these workers might be affected by the strike, they are not directly employed by Huawei.
The President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Tony Emoekpere, ststed that he was not aware of the matter regarding the potential strike by telecom workers, as the union is not affiliated with the association.
However, Emoekpere emphasized the critical importance of protecting the telecom sector, saying, “Telecom services have become a critical infrastructure that must be safeguarded at all costs.”
