PETROLEUM and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria,
PENGASSAN, has threatened to shut the nation’s oil sector over alleged
anti-labour practices by employers, handing down a seven day ultimatum
to government to call the affected employers to order.
PENGASSAN
in a statement weekend warned that it would not hesitate to direct
members to withdraw their services and shut down the sector if, after
the seven days, employers in the industry failed to end all anti-labour
practices in their companies.
Other industrial issues raised by
the Association include, the review of the lingering irregular Joint
Venture funding and Cash Call payment arrears, lack of a clear cut
direction on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), and forceful co-option
of government agencies in the industry into the Integrated Personnel
Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
PENGASSAN in the statement by
its National PRO, Emmanuel Ojugbana, said despite agreement reached
between the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, employers, and
the two trade unions in the industry (PENGASSAN and the Nigeria Union of
Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, some employers still went
ahead to sever employment of some workers, including national officers
of PENGASSAN.
Ojugbana said, “Despite the agreement that
employers should put on hold redundancy in the industry, some
managements such as Fugro, Universal Energy, Frontier Services and
Petrostuff went ahead to sack many of our members including key union
officers and national officer.”
“I want to reiterate our demands
that the Federal Government and the concern organisations including H15,
IEME Chevron, Universal Energy, Chevron Contracts Tecon and Avion Oil
and Fugro should resolve the critical industrial relation issues in
their companies; particularly in the recent retrenchment in Fugro and
Petrostuff should be reversed.
“Let us state unequivocally that
industrial peace in the oil and gas sector will not be guaranteed if
these issues, especially the retrenchment in Fugro, are not resolved
within seven (7) days effective Monday, June 20, 2016. As a major
stakeholder in the oil and gas industry, we are again calling on the
NAPIMS to put in place a clear policy statement against frequent
redundancy plans by operators under the guise of fluctuating crude oil
prices.”
The PENGASSAN spokesman said that apart from the
arrears, the current cash call are delayed and even when paid, it is
much below approved cash call without consideration of JV commitment
including staff salaries.
“The effect of non-payment has led to
thousands of job losses across the sectors and non-creation of new jobs
against the backdrop of the electoral promises of employment generation
by the current government. A stitch in time saves nine,” he said.