NUPENG Decries Unfair Labour Practices

The Nigeria Union of
Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has decried the increasing level of unfair labour practices in the petroleum sector of the nation’s economy.
Speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt last Tuesday, the National President of the union, Comrade Achese lgwe, said employers are now playing politics with employees in the oil and gas sector, adding that this anti-labour disposition has assumed a new dimension in the country.            Igwe said that the policy of privatisation and divestments of onshore oil fields hitherto owned by mult-inational oil firms portends grave danger for the union and its entire members.
The union boss stressed that the oil and gas sector is passing through turbulent periods now in the country especially with the divestment of multinational oil companies that has emasculated the union and created unhealthy industrial relations in the sector.
He said the union is facing the challenge of almost on a  daily basis negotiating redundancies with employers, stressing that this development has affected the union as its members in the formal sector are now at the receiving end.
He said retrenchments and redundancies had totally depleted the numerical strength of the union.
The labour leaders called upon employers to obey the country’s extant labour law and end the issue of casualisation in the oil and gas sector.
He said “casualisation and contract staffing have become a social phenomenon and a hydra-headed evil in labour relation in the petroleum industry.
Igwe said the union would resist the attempt to further convert established job positions to casual and labour contract workers in place of permanent labour employment, stressing that it is inhuman to place workers as temporary, employees on jobs that are routine, continuous and permanent in nature.
He called also on the National Assembly to ensure the speedy passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) in order to address all the challenges facing the oil and gas industry in the country.
The union president also enjoined the National Assembly to expedite action on the review of the labour Act 2004 as well as the passage of the anti-casualisation bill in order to provide the necessary legal framework to end such unfair labour practices.
He appealed to Nigerians to support the union’s quest for transparency, accountability and autonomy of the oil and gas sector.

Philip Okparaji