FG moves to avert oil workers’ strike

The Federal Government is to resolve the dispute between workers in the petroleum sector and some oil companies operating in the country, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported.

General Secretary, Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Mr Joseph Ogbebor, gave this hint in an interview with NAN, on Thursday, in Lagos.

NAN gathered that government’s moves followed the announcement by NUPENG to begin a three-day warning strike from January 11 to protest alleged violation of the country’s extant labour laws and anti-workers’ disposition of the oil companies.

Ogbebor said the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment had intervened in the matter, having called labour leaders to a meeting scheduled for January 11 in Abuja.

“We wonder why the meeting is fixed for the same day we are to commence the strike.

“What I can tell you further is that if the government does not meet our demands, we will proceed with the strike,” he said.

He warned that if the proposed strike was not averted, it would result in fuel scarcity, as Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD), an arm of NUPENG, would be prevented from lifting petroleum products from depots.

“Long queues are also likely to resurface at filling stations across major cities, as the strike may create panic buying from anxious persons,’’ he said.

NUPENG president, Igwe Achese, who announced the plan by the workers to go on strike, said the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union took the decision in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

He said the warning strike was preparatory to a nationwide strike if there was no intervention by the Federal Government.

Some of the major issues alleged by the union were the total closure of the Chevron’s eastern operations through divestiture and the refusal to discuss the redundancy terms.

Others, it was learnt, were the refusal to facilitate the formation of Chevron labour contractors’ forum to interface with NUPENG, as well as Chevron’s refusal to allow workers to unionise, which had been causing industrial relations tension.