PENGASSAN To Embark On Nationwide Strike

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has said it may likely embark on strike on Monday and shut down oil and gas installations across the West African Nation.
In a statement signed by the general secretary of the union, Mr Lumumba Okugbawa, said the union is carrying out the action due to the unfair labour practices and posture of some indigenous oil and gas companies, government agencies and marginal field operators .
He said the union,  in a communiqué issued at the end of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on the 13 of October , 2017 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, criticized some of the oil and gas companies concerning their anti-labour posture including the dismissal of workers who indicates interest and willingness to belong to the union.
The statement read: “The case of Neconde Energy Ltd (of Nestoil Group of companies) is particularly worrisome as the issue of dignity in labour and infringement on workers’ rights to freedom of association is foreign to them, leading to mass sack of workers that joined the union and dehumanisation of same in total disregard to rules of engagement and the laws of the land. The actions of companies such as Neconde in the mass sack of Nigerian workers contribute in no small measures to the unending militancy in the Niger Delta.
“This company has not only conducted itself as being above the provisions of extant laws and regulations guiding the operations of oil and gas companies in Nigeria, but has also boasted that no government agency can call it to order.
“It was therefore no surprise that Neconde has defied multiple interventions from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the top management of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) for the company to toe the path of law and order and comply with Nigerian labour laws.
“Having explored all options without getting the necessary understanding, and an apparent failure of relevant authorities of Government to call to order these recalcitrant organisations especially Neconde, PENGASSAN gives the federal government and its relevant agencies seven days’ notice to embark on nationwide strike effective December 18, 2017 if she fails to direct the management of Neconde and other companies to recall our sacked members as the only option to address this injustice and lawlessness.”