LEADERSHIP of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday intervened in the crisis between Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) workers and Transnational Corporation (Transcorp), bringing to an end the nine-day industrial action over unpaid five months salary arrears.
The NITEL workers, under the umbrella of National Association of Telecommunication Employees (NATE), on Wednesday announced the official suspension of the strike following the intervention of the NLC leadership at a joint press conference at Labour House, Abuja.
It also called on the Federal Government to take over full management of the NITEL, considering the alleged dwindling fortune of the company since it was acquired by Transcorp.
Mr. Charles Amankwe, the National President of NATE, expressed surprise that Transcorp, which had generated a huge amount of money as revenue from the NITEL�s SAT-3 since it took possession of NITEL over 18 months ago, could not pay salaries of the staff.
He lamented that NITEL, which had 290,000 working lines before it was acquired by Transcorps, could not even boast of 40, 000 working lines today because of what he described as �poor management on the part of its current management.�
The Chief Information Officer, NLC, Mr. Owei Lakemfa, in his remark, warned the management of Transcorp against any attempt to intimidate or victimise any of the staff on account of the strike action.
He stated that if that happened, the NLC would join forces with the NATE to shut down all NITEL installation across the federation.