By Bill W. Cooper
Several former employees of the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (LTC) have escalated their protest action, demanding the payment of their over one-year benefits allegedly owed them by the entity.
The protestation yesterday, September 11, 2023, which was dominated by older men and women, gained traction as the former workers are determined to push their case and get justice for what they perceive as an unjust denial of their rightful entitlements.
The Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (LTC) was established in 1973 as the sole fixed line telephone operator in Liberia, and with the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 2007, the Corporation was re-organized as LIBTELCO and designated as Liberia’s national telecommunications operator.
Furthermore, it has been operating a CDMA 2000 1X-EVDO network that provides affordable voice and data services in Liberia, but with its ascendancy, the Weah-led administration set an ambitious plan to expand the scope and operations of the Corporation.
And in 2020, the 2007 Act was amended to ensure that the LTC provide full scale mobile network operations in Liberia, but the entity’s alleged refusal to settle its former employees’ benefits has subsequently led to their frustration and protestation.
The protest by the LTC past employees however underscores their deep-seated dissatisfaction with the corporation’s handling of their financial promises, arguing that the failure to receive their over one-year benefits has caused immense hardship and uncertainty in their lives.
Speaking to this paper yesterday, during their protestation at the LIBTELCO office in Monrovia, the former employees recounted that they were redundant in 2006, during the regime of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, but were not settled as per the law.
The aggrieved former employees explained that the former President then mandated the entity to pay their benefits in two categories, which included cash and bags of rice, before the end of her term in office.
But they stated that the institution has refused to pay their benefits up to present, disclosing that their first target currently is to receive their rice benefit, which has the financial value of US$260 for each member.
According to them, they have gone years fighting for their deserved benefits, of which some of their colleagues later died while in the struggle, alleging that the institution continues to give them inhumane treatment by ignoring their concerns/plight.
The employees further revealed that upon the ascendancy of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government, their official complaint documents were also presented to House Speaker, Bhofal Chambers, of which the speaker mandated the LTC authorities to pay their benefits, but till date, said documents have not been acted upon.
However, the former employees also revealed that at least 200 of the total number of their colleagues were given their rice benefits, while the cash benefit is still outstanding.
