The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) workers began an indefinite strike on Monday, protesting unresolved welfare issues including non-payment of the new minimum wage, non-remittance of pension and cooperative deductions, and unfair dismissal of 17 employees.
At the Ogun Regional office and the various business units of the company in Abeokuta, the gates to the offices were shut on Thursday, halting business activities.
Commenting on the strike, the Vice President of the National Union of Electricity Employees, Lagos/Ogun Zone, Mr. Abiodun Shobayo said the workers were forced to embark on strike following months of failed negotiations with the IBEDC management in Ibadan.
Shobayo said: “We are here this morning to say enough is enough. The IBEDC management cannot continue to take us for granted on issues we have raised for about nine months.
“For instance, our pension and cooperative deductions, running into billions of naira, have not been remitted. We are not given imprest, and workers have been using their personal funds to fix electricity faults and distribute bills.
“The management is not ready to implement the new minimum wage or even negotiate, claiming there is no money. They have also been sacking workers indiscriminately without following due process.
“Seventeen of our members have already been affected, and we have said this cannot stand. We have exercised patience, but it seems the management has a hidden agenda. Just recently, 900 staff of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company were sacked; we do not want the same situation here.
“Seventy per cent of the workers here are casual staff, which is unacceptable. This strike is indefinite until the management sees reason. The action affects all IBEDC franchise areas, covering the six states of the South-West, as well as Kwara and Kogi.”
Shobayo said the union’s demands include the immediate payment of all outstanding entitlements and the reinstatement of sacked workers before any negotiations to end the strike can begin.
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