The Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has raised concern over what it called unfair labour practices of Nexen Petroleum workers.
Thus, in a statement signed by the General Secretary of NUPENG, Comrade Afolabi Olawale, in Lagos, the union called for the urgent intervention of the Federal Ministry of Labour, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of State Security (DSS) to prevail on the management of the oil company.
According to the statement, the intervention is essential to forestall serious industrial crisis in the country over Nexen Petroleum’s refusal to negotiate with the Union on Collective Bargaining Agreement since 2010 with the workers in the company.
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Olawale maintained that the Union is also worried over the lack of transparency in the alleged purchase of the company by China National Offshore Corporation (CNOOC Group), and the company’s purported plan to leave the country without paying its workers benefits.
The statement read in part, “It is against this backdrop that the Union states that we cannot continue to fold our hands while some individuals will be making a mockery of our collective intelligence and at the same time taking advantage of our members.
“The Union, therefore, reiterates that it may be forced to take appropriate trade union actions against Nexen Petroleum any moment from now without any further notice if we do not see any concrete steps to address the concerns and demands of the workers.”
What you should know: This is not the first time NUPENG is holding oil companies in the energy sector accountable for their actions, particularly when it concerns the workers.
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Recall that in August 2019, Nairametrics had reported that Chevron seems to have landed in trouble after NUPENG threatened to embark on industrial action against the company for sacking about 500 workers.
In a press release jointly signed by NUPENG’s President and General Secretary, Williams Akporeha and Olawale respectively, the union threatened to ground Chevron’s operations for sacking the workers.
The union, in the press release, gave the oil company a seven-day ultimatum to recall the dismissed workers, including members of its executives affected by the exercise.
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