NEPCO workers threaten to strike in September

The Electricity Workers Union (EWU) said on Tuesday that National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) workers would start an open-ended strike on September 10, after the company\'s administration refused to meet their demands, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. The union decided that employees working all shifts at NEPCO would take part in the strike, EWU President Ali Hadid said in a statement. According to Hadid, the decision was in response to the administration\'s rejection of the EWU\'s demands for higher salaries on May 17. There has been no positive response from NEPCO, he added, holding the company responsible for the consequences of this decision. Hadid said the workers\' demands included a JD50 basic salary raise and other financial benefits. Employees were supposed to receive the raises at the beginning of July under a previous agreement with the board of directors, he noted. As of June, NEPCO’s budget deficit was expected to top JD1.5 billion by the end of the year — one of several factors cited in a government decision to raise electricity prices that month. The threatened strike comes just months after workers at two of the Kingdom’s other major electricity companies held lengthy work stoppages to press for better pay and benefits. Jordanian Electric Power Company workers went on strike for 17 days in April and held demonstrations around the capital to demand improved financial benefits, including four months bonus salary each year, end-of-service allowances, better health insurance and transportation services for all workers. Employees of the Central Electricity Generating Company also went on strike that month, refusing to work for two weeks before the EWU hammered out a deal with the labour and energy ministries. From JT