– As SSAEAC awards outstanding stakeholders
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHED, says it has set up modalities to commence the recruitment of people living with disabilities, in line with its approved policy of diversity, equity and inclusion.
The company said the employment of physically challenged persons into the organization was imperative in order to give equal opportunities for people living with disabilities to thrive in the society.
Managing Director PHED, Dr. Benson Uwheru, disclosed this during a Seminar and Awards Night in Port Harcourt organsied by the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC, with the theme, the Prospects and Challenges of the Labour Movement in the Electricity Industry.
Uwheru represented by the Chief Peoples Officer, PHED, Mr Micah Ledee, also said that the company was rebranding, noting that the Disco has commenced promotion of staff and salary increment, as well as paid off over N46million inherited from previous administrations, for staff exit entitlements.
“We are putting up other policies including employing employees with disabilities in the organization to be able to support the policy for diversity, equity and inclusion.
“PHED has been in the bad light, but presently we are rewriting the history with the face of new business, we are gradually redeeming that image by paying exited staff who left the organization over a period whose appointments were terminated through a kangaroo process and their entitlements not paid.
“We have been able to pay N46million for exited staff between 2019- 2022 and we are still doing more to close that gap. We are commencing pension arrears payment by next month and the value of pension not paid is very huge.
“The company at the moment is in consultation with the federal government, expecting to clear off the back log we inherited, and we are hoping that in the near months to come everybody in the organization will receive the value of their pension.”
Meanwhile, the Deputy General Secretary, SSAEAC, South-South and South-East, Comrade Innocent Lord-Douglas, said the union decided to honour its members and other stakeholders, who have given their unwavering support to the union in the struggle for the betterment of electricity workers.
Lord-Douglas assured that SSAEAC as a union will continue to build a robust relationship between electricity workers and the management of PHED.
“We are recognizing those who have contributed immensely to the growth and stability of SSAEAC, including our members, the management of PHED and other stakeholders.
“The award is a way of appreciating those who have stood with us even during the crisis, so one of the ways the union can pay back is to appreciate them through these awards. The awardees include scholars, academia, our members, clergymen and the management of PHED.
“So, we have given out 10 awards. We have x-rayed the performance of the management of PHED towards electricity workers and we have noticed we have a stress-free relationship with the incumbent Managing Director of PHED and so we are appreciating them to keep up with the good work.”
Earlier in his paper presentation, a university don and lecturer at the Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Dr. Obodoegbulam Agi, decried the absence of job security for workers in the electricity sector.
Speaking on the theme, “The Prospect and Challenges of Labour Movement in the Electricity Industry, (PHED in Perspective)” Agi said, “the challenge most workers in the electricity industry face is being employed without job security as most staff are casualised, which makes it impossible for such workers to give in their best as they are conscious of being sent home any moment.”
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