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Re-organisation: Shell, Workers Parley Energy By Mike Oduniyi Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has begun talks with its workers' unions to stave off industrial action over the company's planned re-organisation. The workers had, two weeks ago, embarked on a two-day warning strike to protest the plan, which they claimed would erase about 1,000 permanent jobs in Shell. SPDC Director, External Relations, Mr. Precious Omuku, said at the weekend that the management had been holding dialogue with the workers on the need to re-organise. According to him, given the cost of production and the tight budget compared to the size and spread of the company, "there is the need to make some changes" if Shell was to operate more efficiently and at a lower cost. "Indeed, management is continually having conversations with the staff," said the director, adding that a major meeting was held with the two oil workers' unions only last Thursday. During the latest round of protest organised by the company's branches of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), union officials said Shell's management was still going ahead with the plans to lay off workers despite a directive from the Nigerian government for a stay of action. They said the packages the management offered workers that opted for severance, was nothing to write home about. The unions said they were also protesting against the compulsory retirement of Nigerians working in the company, that it was a ploy to bring in more expatriates. The unions cited similar instances of re-organisation in 1996 and 1999 where many Nigerians lost their jobs only for many of those positions to be re-packaged for expatriates at much higher job and salary levels. Shell is Nigeria's biggest crude oil producer with an output capacity of over 1.0 million barrels per day (bpd). Omuku said management quite understood the fears of the workers as "anytime there are changes, people would necessarily feel threatened." "Change will come and it will affect people. Our hope of moving forward is that the change is well managed," he added. Who Are We ? | About THISDAYOnLine.com | THISDAY People | Contact Us © Copyright 2000 Leaders & Company Limited

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