Aggrieved staff members of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) under aegis of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) staged a protest on Monday in Eket in Akwa Ibom.
The protest, which started about 7 am witnessed the planting of plantain suckers in the frontage of the company’s gate by the aggrieved staffers.
The protesters carried placards with inscriptions: “PHEDC must uphold court rule”, “Enforce deduction and remittance of check up dues to NUEE.
Others read: “We say no to slavery”, “PHEDC stop indiscriminate, illegal and wrongful disengagement”.
The Secretary of the Union, Mr Joseph Etukudoh, said that NUEE had an issue with PHEDC management and the court ruled in favour of the union against the company.
He said that the PHEDC went to Appeal Court but the court also ruled in favour of the union.
“We have written to the management severally for negotiation and implementation of the court order, they refused.
“So it is on that strength that the workers said they have to protest peacefully to make them know.
“It is painful, wrongful to terminate and disengage workers without termination letters, no payoff,” Etukudoh lamented.
Etukudoh said that the union had appealed to PHEDC management to comply with the court ruling but they refused since last year.
Reacting to the development, the spokesperson for PHEDC, Mr John Onyi, said that he was aware of the protest.
Onyi, who is the Lead Leader of the company based in Port Harcourt in Rivers, claimed that PHEDC had yet to be briefed on the reasons for the protest.
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