Andagali brings hope for people

 DO workers of state-owned enterprises such as PNG Power Ltd have the right to go on strike and disrupt essential government services like electricity supply?

That is the question we are posing to our readers in our weekly online poll and it will be interesting to see their collective response next Friday. 

In the interim, we believe that employees of all state-owned enterprises (SOEs) should be categorised as public servants and be subjected to the laws and regulations that govern the country’s public service.

Undoubtedly, employees of SOEs will argue that they are not strictly public servants and should not be subjected to the Public Service Act, which stipulates that government workers are barred from taking part in any industrial action against the state.

PNG Power Ltd (PPL) is a registered government business under the Companies Act and its employees are subjected to various laws and regulations, including the Industrial Relations Act, which governs their conduct as members of their particular trade union. The Act spells out the procedures that must be strictly adhered to by workers when considering industrial action or strikes against the company.

During their ongoing dispute with the PNG Power board and management, the workers have acted responsibly and allowed dialogue to prevail over emotive actions that could have disrupted electricity supplies to the country.

The workers and their union maintained their responsible approach throughout the period of the dispute until this week when the appointment of a new PPL board chairman was announced on Tuesday.

State Enterprise Minister Ben Micah’s announcement of Larry Andagali, the founder and managing director of one of Papua New Guinea’s largest transportation and logistics companies Trans Wonderland Ltd (TWL), was indeed welcome news for the ailing electricity supplier.

However, the PPL workers thought otherwise and decided to give Andagali a rather rude welcome on Wednesday. In Port Moresby, the workers met at 8.30am at PPL’s Boroko office and proceeded to the Rouna hydro power plant near Sogeri and shut down the turbines. Five 25-seater bus loads of PPL workers travelled to the foothills of Sogeri where the hydro plant is located and by 11.30am the power supply to most parts of the capital city was shut down. They then proceeded to the Moitaka power plant and shut down the supply there while communicating with their colleagues at the Kanudi power plant to do likewise.

It is arguable whether their brief strike and action to cut off power supplies to the country was a breach of the Industrial Relations Act and the Enterprise Agreement. Nonetheless, it seemed like a well thought-out ploy to get an instant response from the new chairman even before he set foot inside PNG Power’s Hohola headquarters. 

Andagali was forced to face the music the day after his appointment was announced. But the Hela businessman, who is well known for his fair but firm approach, remained unperturbed by the PPL workers’ tactic to put him on notice.

During urgent talks with the worker’s representatives and senior management, An­dagali agreed to one of the workers’ demands to reinstate suspended Chief Executive Officer John Tangit.

The assurance that Tangit would resume duties after Andagali’s first board meeting later this month paved the way for electricity supplies to be restored to Port Moresby and other parts of the country by Wednesday evening. It seemed the new PPL chairman had got off to a flying start and had broken the ice that had formed between the workers and the former board headed by Robert Bradshaw.

Andagali followed up with his first meeting with the PPL staff at Hohola yesterday afternoon, which by all accounts, was a roaring success and marks the beginning of a new era of change and growth for PNG Power.

Indeed, Andagali’s leadership will be crucial as PPL “reforms, reorganises and restrategises” to meet its challenges to provide reliable and affordable electricity supplies.

For a start, the lights are back on, much to the relief of private and business consumers throughout the country.