Higher Interest Rates Causing Redundancy in Telco Sector -PRECSSSAN

President of the Private Telecommunication and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PTECSSAN) Comrade Opeyemi Tomori, has lamented the impact of higher interest rate in the telecommunications sector, stressing that businesses are beginning to report low performances.

Speaking at the associations 2nd Delegates Conference in Lagos receny, Tomori stated that there’s been a high level of declaration of redundancies by employers.

“Our Association battled to ensure that the laid down procedure for these redundancy exercises was followed and that compensation due to those going on redundancy was correct and promptly paid.

“Some companies have maliciously taken undue advantage of this provision to forbid hundreds of potential members from joining the union. In this case, our association has taken the matter to the National Industrial Court for interpretation.

“In other cases, staff members themselves are too afraid to declare their membership of the Union for fear of being targeted and victimized by the company management.

He stated that the union has been organising workshops and sensitisation seminars for workers to understand that being a union member is an act of exercising their right to association

“Our Association has always followed the step-wise escalation of labour matters starting from the Ministry of Labour, to an industrial arbitration panel and finally to the National Industrial Court.

“This is a tough challenge that our members and our association had to contend with, around job security and betterment of staff welfare.

“The current membership strength of our association stands at about 1,000. Our association’s target is to have more than ten branches and more than 5,000 members as of this time.

He explained that the low registration and membership turnout is due to many factors.

“Restriction due to the Nigeria Labour Act which has exempted some level of staff from joining the union. Some companies have maliciously taken undue advantage of this provision to forbid hundreds of potential members from joining the union.

“On this one, our association has taken the matter to the National Industrial Court for interpretation.

Also, the state controller of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Itemoagbo Eshomounu, who spoke on the theme, Empowering the Future and Navigating Digital Frontiers, claimed that the telecom sector has evolved and will continue to improve.

He added that the industry’s fundamental changes are focused on generating new value and making sure that content and communication services are delivered digitally.

“Digital transformation in telecom is highly important to improve business, increase operational efficiencies, and provide ultimate customer experiences. It is the process of incorporating the latest tech to drive organisational growth and gain a competitive advantage”, he noted.