NUPENG, FG Dialogue Over Indefinite Industrial Action

The Federal Government yesterday summoned the leadership of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) for a dialogue to avert full scale indefinite industrial action by the union.

Also, the House of Representatives has called upon the leadership of NUPENG to suspend any proposed indefinite industrial action in the interest of the nation and seek amicable solutions to the contentious industrial issues.

The union has embarked on three-day warning strike on July 1, 2013, over what the union alleged was anti-labour activities by multi-national oil and gas companies operating in the country.

NUPENG National President, Comrade Igwe Achese, also berated the Federal Government for deploying troops to protect the offices of the international Oil Companies.

He said, “we are very worried that just when we declared a warning strike, there were detachment of police, army and other security agencies to the offices of Shell and Chevron in Lagos, all in an effort to ensure the union action is frustrated.”

Comrade Achese said, “for how long can we go on as a government to protect our oppressors?, Adding that it is very sad that instead of government protecting its citizenries, it is protecting those that are promoting unfriendly labour practices.

He urged the government to call Shell and Chevron to order.

He queried a situation where people who have worked for 25 years in an oil industry be paid paltry sum of N300,000 as termination benefits.

The union leaders said there is need for government to define what constitutes “core job” in the oil industry, adding that international oil companies 1OCs have ascribed the so- called core jobs to casual workers, for whom they have refused to implement “equal work for equal pay.”

The labour leader stated that the rot in the oil sector is due to non coherence of guidelines that dictate how labour practices and other industry matters are executed, which a stakeholders meeting ought to have spelt out.

He expressed regret for the failure to convene stakeholders meeting since 2005, adding that such failure was due to the preference of the international oil companies 1OCs for continued exploitation of the lopsided prevailing anti-labour practices.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government delegation include Minister of Labour and Productivity, Group Managing Director NNPC, senior officials of the ministry of petroleum resources.

The Tide learnt that the dialogue was on how to resolve all the contentious issues that led to the three-day warning strike.

However, The Tide investigation revealed that despite the three day warning strike by the union, most filling stations opened for full operations with pump attendants selling at the normal rate of N97.

When The Tide visited the new filling station “prospel” at Oil Mill, the station opened for  normal business without any queue by motorists.