Amid serious strike action by employees of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) demanding the replacement of their 30 percent salary cut by the LEC management without any justiciable reasons and other actions, the Liberian leader, President George Manneh Weah has appointed Monie R. Captan as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
According to the Executive Mansion press release, the appointment of Mr. Captan in the face of the ongoing strike action at the Corporation takes immediate effect.
In a related development aimed restoring calm and ensure industrial harmony at the Liberia Electricity Cooperation (LEC), the Minister of Labour, Cllr. Charles H. Gibson today met with the Management and Workers Union of the cooperation in Monrovia.
During meeting Cllr. Gibson mandated the Management to restore the 30% deduction from employee salary with immediate effect. He warned the Management not to take the employees by surprise on issues that are intended to affect their jobs and livelihood. He encouraged the Management to adequately notify employees of upcoming issues of such.
Minister Gibson has also ordered the suspension of Mr. Jason Tuner, Executive Director, General Services and Compliance and asked that he be subjected to further investigation into circumstances surrounding the death of a local employee Mr. Jacob Dukuly, Manager, Capital Feeder, T & D of the cooperation, as is being alleged by the workers union of LEC.
He said that his Ministry will hold consultation with the Ministry of Justice and deceased family to establish if there is a need to conduct an autopsy on the body of the decease employee.
Minister Gibson has at the same time advised the Management of the LEC not allow Mr. Peter U. Egbodor, Meter Consultant, whose work permit has since expired and yet been renewed on the compounds of the LEC in violation of the Labour Law of Liberia. The Minister warned that Mr. Peter U. Egbodor should not be seeing in LEC Uniforms, cars or premises until at such time a work permit is duly issue to him.
During the meeting, it was established that the leadership of the workers union did not organized none authorized the illegal strike action, but that it spontaneous own to the sadden death of one of the colleagues who they claimed was constantly being harassed and threatened by Mr. Tuner and Mr. Egbodor.
However, the Minister used the occasion to encouraged unions in the country to always seek the interventions of Ministry of Labour before embarking on strikes.
Meanwhile, both the worker Association and the mother union have apologized for the strike action on behalf of the workers and promised to pursuit dialogue under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour on all issues between they and the LEC Management.
For their part, the Management thanked the Ministry of Labour for its shift intervention and promised to abide by all of its decisions. management has failed to carry out investigation. This angered the employees. Additionally, the employees are demanding for the removal of Peter Egbodor, Jason Hunter and Noel Walsh.
These three expatriates insult employees, customers and demean them without following company’s policies. One of the situations which several customers have complained about over the past time “For many times, we have asked management to send these three people back, but they have refused to do so,” one of the protestors said.
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