CDWR Demands an End to Exploitative Contract Staffing and Other Anti-labour Policies at Egbin Power Plc
The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) condemns Egbin Power Plc management for resisting negotiation of Condition of Service with workers and their union. Egbin Power Plant workers and the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) have made several efforts towards negotiating a Condition of Service with the Egbin Power Plants management but sadly to no avail.
By CDWR Reporters
The Ministry of Labour and Productivity mediated in a discussion between workers’ representatives and the management in 2023 but the management’s representative pulled out of it citing a lack of mandate to enter into an agreement in a company. After the criminal privatisation of Egbin Power, government has about 40% stake while private individuals have 60% in a sale at rock bottom price. The management subsequently imposed its own policies through a Handbook that is ambiguous in certain areas and strengthens management interest in many areas.
A Condition of Service should be an agreement of a tripartite meeting viz management, Workers (union) and ministry of labour representing government. It should outline the terms and conditions of the employment and include the salary scale and how its calculated, retirement/disengagement benefits and how it is arrived at, work hours, overtime pay, pension, disciplinary procedures, leave and its allowances etc. The management of Egbin Power Plc is resisting a condition of service because a lack of one gives the management the opportunity to carry out anti-labour policies and enables it to manoeuvre and dodge responsibilities, and also under-remunerate workers. The last time Egbin workers protested the bad working condition, the management responded brutally by sacking some of the leading figures of the protest. Management response is undemocratic and tyrannical.
For instance, the absence of Condition of Service empowers the management of Egbin Power Plc to treat break/rest time as non-work hours and not paid for. International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Nigerian Labour Act consider break/rest time as part of working hours as long as the employee is carrying out the work duties for the day. For instance, the company’s Hand Book states that remunerated work hours for the day are 8 hours but the work period is from 8am to 5pm, which is 9 hours. What this means is that Egbin Power Plc management does not consider break time as work hours and about 20 hours of labour hours are not paid for in a month. Besides, the management treats overtime pay awkwardly in such a way that short-changes workers. For instance, the management does not recognize overtime but pay a fixed amount instead of hourly rate which it recognizes as inconvenience allowance; work on weekends attracts N5,000 as daily pay while on public holidays attracts N20,000 as daily pay irrespective of the number of hours put into work for the day.
Egbin Power Plants management has subjected many workers whose jobs by every standard are supposed to be regular and permanent to contract staffing, and these workers are employed through outsourcing contractors. These contract workers are not paid disengagement pay or other benefits. These types of indecent work practices have allowed the management to drive down wages while top management staff is paid outrageous jumbo salaries and allowances. For instance, some of these contract staff earn about N200,000 monthly while the CEO of Egbin Power Plc earns about N30 million monthly, a whopping amount that can conveniently pay about 150 contract staff! This is the level of outrageous inequality that exists in Egbin Power Plc.
These aforementioned labour issues and several others are what a Condition of Service would have resolved. But the lack of it makes it possible for the management to entrench and implement anti-labour practices and short-change workers. The Egbin Power Plc is part of the Sahara Group, a big multinational group of companies and beneficiary of the privatisation programme and the massive on-going exploitation in the power sector vis-à-vis incessant tariff hikes.
The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) is calling on the management and owners of Egbin Power Plants to enter into negotiation with workers and their union (National Union of Electricity Employees) and agree to a Condition of Service without delay.
CDWR also calls on National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) to seriously engage and pressure the management as well as mobilize workers for a series of legitimate actions to actualize a decent Condition of Service.