TCN union alerts over N25m dues, SSAEAC crisis

The Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) branch of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has decried the illegalities of the national body for withholding its N25 million dues for 33 months.

The President, TCN Branch of SSAEAC, Comrade Abidemi Dairo in a statement by the Branch spokesman, Comrade Amiji Gabriel, blamed one Engineer Christopher Okonkwo for the TCN senior staff crisis. Dairo said Okonkwo was a Principal Manager with the Ikeja DisCo that was brought to TCN as General Manager.

Okonkwo as a GM contested and became the President General of SSAEAC in 2015, a deed the TCN Branch termed illegal and alerted the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in September 2019 that as a management official, Okonkwo cannot be the President General of SSAEAC as it violates the Trade Union Act Cap. T14 Laws of the Federation, 2004.

Dairo said the Ministry claimed it was unaware of Okonkwo being a GM at TCN but confirmed that any management official posing as the SSAEAC Head was a violation.

The TCN union called on the ministry to act faster before the crisis degenerates, saying the TCN workers are focused on improving the power sector.

Recall that the SSAEAC national body led by Okonkwo and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) attempted to picket TCN offices to disrupt economy activities in a sensitive utility sector in May 13 and 14th of 2019 for no reason, but the TCN workers refused the protest saying, they had good working condition under the present management of TCN.

On their funding, Dairo said Okonkwo refused to remit that. “He has refused to pay the Check-off dues of the TCN branch of SSAEAC for 33 months, all totalling about N25 million. Okonkwo also purportedly suspended the branch from the SSAEAC National which action is being challenged at the National Industrial Court.

Dairo’s team said the Ministry in July mandated TCN management to continue payment to the SSAEAC National with a promise to ensure remittance to TCN Branch which has not happened. “Our members are getting agitated but the Labour Ministry is still ignoring us,” Dairo noted.