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• Issues 21 days ultimatum to employers over lingering industrial issues
Oil workers under the umbrella of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have threatened to down tools, if some industrial issues, especially anti-labour practices by some employers in the oil and gas industry, are not addressed within 21 days.
The senior staff trade union issued the ultimatum after its Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Abuja last Wednesday.
According to a statement signed by the PENGASSAN national public relations officer, Comrade Fortune Obi, the 21-day ultimatum to stakeholders in the oil and gas industry was imperative due to persistent anti-labour practices by the management of some companies in the sector.
The association, therefore, called on stakeholders to address issues of concern affecting its members within the stipulated period to avert the consequences of its next line of action.
“PENGASSAN, in the last three years, has not only been excessively stretched but equally unnecessarily over-burdened and is fast running out of patience over the loss of will by various managements to attend to industrial/welfare issues.
“Particularly frustrating is the sustained, deliberate and indiscriminate redundancies, sack, casualisation, ill-treatment, adverse work condition, incessant disagreement to collective bargain resolutions and other anti-labour practices against our members by these managements without recourse to extant labour laws,” Obi said.
The union identified in particular the provocative stance of the managements of the Fugro, Sterling Global, Indorama Petrochemical Company, Baker Hughes/General Electric, Universal Energy, Frontier Energy, Vam Onne, Neconde Energy and ObiJackson Group, SDF, Ciscon, Tecon, Obax, Pan Ocean, NNPC Retail Limited, Exxon-Mobil and Petrobras.
To this end, the PENGASSAN spokesperson said that the association has directed the zonal executive councils, in the four zones of Port Harcourt, Lagos, Kaduna and Warri, to commence systematic mobilisation of its members for the planned action.
He said that the association also called on leadership of the National Assembly to reconsider the amendment of NLNG Act, which the association alleged will portend danger in the Federal Government’s push to woo investors into the country.
PENGASSAN also commented on certain provisions of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) recently passed by the Senate that need revision to address some labour concerns, adding that the association observed that labour unions, especially PENGASSAN and NUPENG, were over-looked in the membership of the governing boards of the regulatory entities in the bill.
Obi explained that PENGASSAN is a body of professionals best equipped to assess and make inputs to policies in the petroleum industry by the virtue of their position and in-depth knowledge in the industry.
PENGASSAN also observed with dismay the loose of condition of service with regards to job security/transfer of employment of staff in the existing agencies.
PENGASSAN will resist any attempt under whatever guise to downsize or short-change Nigerian workers.
The association appreciated the Senate’s efforts over its inquiry into the planned sale/concessioning of the Port-Harcourt Refinery Company by the Federal Government to a consortium under questionable circumstances.
“PENGASSAN is convinced the nation’s refineries sub-optimal performance is rather political than technical. We are however open to genuine and transparent processes that will lead to optimization of the plants as well as guarantee the end of importation of refined products,” he stated.
