Telecom workers strike over conditions of service

The Telecom and IT Professionals Union has threatened a nationwide strike over poor condition of service beginning today, March 15, 2021.

The union has said salary negotiations with the management of the four subcontractors who have been engaged by Huawei Technologies Limited to maintain the technical operations of MTN, AirtelTigo and Vodafone have not yielded fruitful results.

According to the workers, the four SBCs; Linfra Ghana Limited, MP Infrastructure Ghana Limited, Reime Ghana Limited and Reliance Personal Services, have refused to enhance their remuneration over the years despite the huge profits declared annually by the telcos and Huawei.

At the current salary negotiation by the Joint Standing Negotiation Committee (JSNC), which was meant to have taken place in September 2020, the Union proposed a 20 per cent pay increase, but management locked its offer at 3 per cent, after initially offering zero per cent.

In a letter dated March 12, 2021, to inform the NLC and the SBCs of the intended action, the union explained the four SBCs have failed to act in good faith in addressing the concerns of the workers, and therefore, the union “do not wish to cooperate with management going forward until the workers’ concerns are resolved.”

“Given the above facts and conditions, we respectfully write to inform you that our earlier industrial action is coming on the 15th of March 2021 as earlier planned,” said the letter signed by Israel Edem Agbegbor, General Secretary of the Union.