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Thursday, December 22, 2016
Nigeria’s oil and gas workers unions, NUPENG and PENGASSAN have ended an ongoing strike and have put aside plans of launching another on January 9. The decision was taken following a meeting between senior union staff and the country’s oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu.
The two unions had threatened to embark on a three-day nationwide warning strike by January 9, 2017, over what they say is “anti-labor practices by International Oil Companies (IOCs).”
The threat followed allegations by NUPENG members at Chevron that the US company fired 250 members after declaring their contract not binding, because it could not trace the company that employed them as contract workers.
PENGASSAN members launched a protest against ExxonMobil operations in the country following the alleged firing of 150 members. The protest followed a standoff by the workers with their management over the alleged sack of about 150 of its members over terminal benefits issues.
The package, which was said to have ranged between N140 million and N350 million, was rejected by the affected workers.
The Chairman of the ExxonMobil Branch of PENGASSAN, Paul Eboigbe, had accused the management of the oil company of sacking its members, while negotiations were still on going.The protesting workers had shut-down all oil production and export facilities at the Qua Iboe terminal.
The oil minister met with oil unions and also spoke with management of the oil firms asking them to suspend all actions aimed at reducing their workforce till further notice, to stem the looming crisis in the industry.
“The plan to embark on the nationwide strike has been suspended. The strike by ExxonMobil workers has also been suspended. All actions by the managements of Chevron and ExxonMobil have also been suspended till further notice,” PENGASSAN President, Francis Johnson, told Premium Times. “A committee was set up during the meeting to look at all the issues involved. The committed was mandated to report back to the minister on January 10, 2017.”
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