NUPENG Accuses NECA Of Aiding Casualisation

National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has accused the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) of aiding employers to encourage casualisation in various companies.

Making this known to newsmen on Tuesday, National President of NUPENG, Comrade Igwe Achese, lamented that NECA, which is the umbrella Association in the country, has been promoting the use of contract labour by employers.

He stated that this is against the expected role of NECA, which is to help government and labour eradicate casualisation.

“NECA is not helping issues at all, in other countries you cannot allow a casual staff to work for more than six months.

“It is either the company retains the individual as a staff or the contract is terminated but here in Nigeria, you have a situation where some one works as a casual staff for six months after which the contract is renewed over and over again”, he said.

Achese, who lamented that casualisation has become an endemic problem, especially in multinational companies, noted that “workers no longer have job security and condition of service”.

He listed the multinational companies where the practice is prominent to include Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), and Mobil Producing Nigeria Limited.

The NUPENG boss noted that this occurs even as there is a legislative council expected to protest and defend the rights of workers.

“We have a legislative council that does not protect and defend the rights of workers. This is not obtainable in other countries.

“We signed a Memorandum of Understanding with government that contract staff should be allowed to have a condition of service that protects the right of the less privileged”, he said.

According to Achese, efforts by unions leadership to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement for labour contract and service contract workers in the industry have been frustrated by management of SPDC and Mobil.

“However”, he said, “we would continue to fight this struggle until government enforces the law”.