Nigeria’s telecommunications sector is at risk of a major disruption as about 800 workers from the Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association (PTECSSAN) have gone on strike. This action threatens to significantly impact telecom services across the country.
The union, which consists mainly of contract staff, has warned of severe disruptions to telecom operations if their demands are not met, potentially leading to a communication blackout for millions of users.
The strike, which began on Monday, September 9, includes demands for the reinstatement of dismissed employees, official union recognition, improved working conditions, and the payment of membership dues.
“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.
Secretary-General of the union, Okonu Abdullahi stressed that the 800 workers from the union are essential for managing critical infrastructure, such as base stations for major companies including IHS and Huawei.
“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 outlined that the union’s members include field maintenance engineers, transmission engineers, customer service engineers, fibre engineers, and other critical staff supporting telecom service providers.
The companies at the center of the current dispute are Huawei Technologies Nigeria Limited, Tylium Nigeria Limited, Specific Tools & Techniques, Chinese Pacific Networks Limited (CPNL), China International Telecommunications Construction Corporation (CITCC), and JUSPARTNER.
While major telecom operators such as MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile own base stations and fibre infrastructure, they often outsource the management to servicing companies. These companies may, in turn, subcontract the work to smaller contractors who employ the striking workers. This intricate outsourcing arrangement has sparked concerns about worker welfare and job security.
The union had previously staged a strike in April over similar issues, which were addressed through a mediation meeting facilitated by the Ministry of Labour between the union and 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.”
Speaking on whether 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.”
Princess Powei, the telecoms sector officer at the Ministry of Labour, recognized the workers’ concerns and assured that the government is dedicated to addressing and resolving the issues swiftly.
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.”
