Oil workers frown at anti Labour posture of IOCs, others
The two Labour unions in the oil and gas industry have condenmed the anti Labour activities by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and indigenous companies operating in Nigeria.
The unions, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), and National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) after a meeting in Abuja yesterday, also lamented over the inability of the ministry of Labour and Employment to ensure extent Labour laws are observd by employers.
PENGASSAN president, comrade Olabode Johnson who speaks to journalists after the meeting urge government to put a mechanism in place to check industrial relations issues in the sector to avert disputes.
Comrade Johnson who is also the chairman of NUPENGASSAN, said most cases refared to the Ministry of Labour are yet to be resolved.
“The Council in Session condemns the increasing impunities and anti labour tendencies of most indigenous and multinational oil companies in the oil and gas industry operating in the country.
“The situation is compounded by the fact that the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment that is supposed to be the watchdog in the areas of compliance with extant labour laws is unfortunately handicapped because of poor understanding of the contract processing and workings in the oil and gas industry.
“The Council noted that many of the cases referred to the ministry are not properly and adequately handled, thus leaving the workers and the union frustrated.
“The Council in Session demands that a special mediation unit comprising experts from NNPC Human Resources, NAPIMS and other relevant unit be set up to apprehend industrial relations/labour disputes and treat them with despatch before escalating to level of any form of Industrial actions”.
On the high level of insecurity in the country, “the council-in-session is deeply disturbed about incessant violent and incessant killings and wanton destruction of lives and properties, especially farm lands as well as threats to the food security base of the country, thereby increasing poverty and hunger in the country.
“The Council in Session is also more worrisome is the threat to foreign direct investment as many international investors start to misconstrue Nigeria as an unsafe and dangerous investment destination. This equally amounts to the losses these crises have caused many of our members and the psychological and economic damage they have suffered over the years.
The Council frowns at repeated clashes of similar nature across the country, which obviously is making people become apprehensive because of fear of the unknown.
The council-in-session of sheer patriotism calls on the Federal Government and the affected state governments to work together, taking immediate steps to reinvigorate and overhaul their security system, strengthen conflict-resolution mechanisms and initiate longer-term efforts to look into familiar problems of insecurity in their domains.
As socially responsible stakeholders in the Nigerian project that strongly believes in sanctity of human life, the Council-in-Session therefore appeals to Governments at all levels to jettison cheap politics, hypocrisy and bias.
“We calls that it is high time they empower all our security agencies with the right resources and concentrate more on surveillance, intelligence gathering and intelligence processing with the right technology and equipment”.