The Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU) has once again stressed that there may be massive job layoffs if the power supply challenges are not resolved anytime soon.
“If this should continue, then prices of goods and services will go up which will also affect employers in the long run. Also, employers will be compelled to reduce their production levels and that will affect the size of labour needed for any job at a particular point in time. As a result, many labour will be asked to go home,” General Secretary of the ICU, Solomon Kotei warned.
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“Most of the employers have gone ahead to buy generator sets in anticipation of the situation escalating. This is also adding onto the production cost which is not in the interest of the employer,” he added.
In recent times there have been disruptions in power supply. The Energy Ministry subsequently promised the situation will be resolved from Saturday to Monday (February 25 – February 27, 2017).
Despite the promises to resolve the situation, the power supply has not been restored to normalcy. Some analysts have advocated the need to shore up gas supply to avert a crisis situation.
Kotei is however worried this will have dire consequences on labour.
Many have called on the appropriate stakeholders to release a load-shedding timetable to make it easier for people to plan their activities in a day. ICU has also joined this call for a timetable to guide employers in decision making.
“The lack of timetable will be an inconvenience to employers…it is a very serious issue and I hope the government engages the VRA and GRIDCo for clarity to be brought on whether the doom days are setting in soon.”